Nov. 9, 2006

Orem, Utah - Utah Valley State setter Lacee Koelliker was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII Volleyball Second Team on Thursday. She received the honor in the University Division, which includes all Division-I schools.

Koelliker was voted to the team based on her academic and athletic achievements. She has 3.77 GPA with a major in Elementary Education and was also recently named to the D-I Independent All-Academic team and was Utah Valley State's Scholar Athlete for the month of October.

The Las Vegas, Nevada senior is averaging 11.69 assists per game, third among all Independent players and just last weekend passed the 1,000 assist total for the third consecutive season. She is 73 assists shy of reaching 4,000 for her career and will likely pass that mark at this weekend's D-I Independent Championship.

Koelliker is hitting .310 while averaging 1.10 kills per game and also leads the Wolverines with 34 service aces.

Other District VIII schools represented on the All-District Second Team include UCLA, San Diego, Hawaii, Washington and Arizona State.

Koelliker is the second Utah Valley State athlete to be named Academic All-District. Track & Field's Michael Vick earned the honor in the Spring of 2006.

The student-athletes are nominated by and voted on by the members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

The Utah Valley State women's volleyball team is in Fargo, North Dakota preparing for the Division-I Independent Championships beginning on Friday. The reigning championships open pool play with a match up against Providence on Friday at 3:00pm MT. The Wolverines are also scheduled to take on South Dakota State at 7:00pm MT.