Two Bulldog Players Garner First-Team All-Great Lakes Region Accolades

November 27, 2002

Alaina Olds	Ashley Green	Stephanie Speed

For the fourth time in the seven-year tenure of Ferris State women's volleyball head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm, two Bulldog players have been named to the 2002 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II All-Great Lakes Region First-Team in an announcement made by the AVCA.

Senior middle hitter Alaina Olds (Kingsley) was one of four repeat first-team honorees while sophomore setter Ashley Green (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) received first-team all-region honors for the first time. Senior outside hitter Stephanie Speed (Bothell, Wash.) was an honorable mention All-Great Lakes Region choice. This season marks the third consecutive season in which two Ferris players received first-team honors.

Twelve individuals were named to the first team while six others received honorable mention laurels. Ferris was one of four schools with two or more first-team picks, joining Grand Valley State (3), Northwood (2) and Northern Kentucky (2). By attaining all-region honors, both Olds and Green are now eligible for AVCA Division II All-America consideration.

Olds, a first-team 2002 All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) selection, concluded her career ranked ninth on the school's career kills chart with 1,222 kills. She registered at least one kill in her last 79 appearances and garnered 10 or more kills in 24 of her last 26 matches. The 5-11 Olds, who earned the GLIAC North Division's Player of the Week Award three times this season, led Ferris with 503 kills and 125 total blocks this campaign in addition to recording the program's second-best single-season attack percentage (.344). Olds finished her career in fourth place on FSU's career blocks leaders list (448) and is third in career attack percentage (.287).

The 5-9 Green notched a personal career-high 1,348 assists in 2002 while adding 230 digs and 92 kills. She presently has recorded 2,313 career assists in 223 games (10.37 apg) and is 467 assists shy of moving into a tie for fifth place with Lisa Chard (2,780; 1998-99) on FSU's career assists leaders chart. Green, who also was named to the first-team 2002 All-GLIAC squad, was one of four setters to earn first-team all-region recognition.

Speed registered her first career triple-double performance Nov. 8 at Saginaw Valley State as she totaled 12 kills, 12 digs and a school single-match record 12 service aces. Speed, who also attained her 900th career dig versus SVSU, finished her three-year FSU career with 949 career digs and 548 kills. The first-team 2002 All-GLIAC honoree compiled 10 or more digs in 13 of her last 18 outings while registering a team-high 371 digs in 2002. Speed was an honorable mention 2001 All-GLIAC pick.

Ferris, which finished the season with a 24-7 overall record, advanced to the NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional Championships for the 11th time in school history before dropping a 3-2 quarterfinal-round decision versus Wheeling Jesuit (W.Va.) on Nov. 22 at Grand Valley State's Fieldhouse Arena in Allendale, Mich.

FSU’s 15-3 GLIAC mark this campaign represented its best league record since posting a 16-0 GLIAC ledger in 1990 while the 2002 campaign marked the second consecutive season and third time in the last five years the Bulldogs have finished second in the GLIAC's North Division. Ferris also posted its fifth-straight 20-win season this campaign.