Marshall University Athletics
Herd Inks Caribbean Queen in Volleyball Player of the Year Billingy
Jacobs Adds Four Decorated Players, Walk-On for 2004
12/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Herd Inks Caribbean Queen in Volleyball Player of the Year Billingy
Jacobs Adds Four Decorated Players, Walk-On for 2004
12/3/2003
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. ? Marshall University head coach Mitch Jacobs announced today that four volleyball players have signed letters of intent to compete with the 2003 Mid-American Conference Tournament finalist Thundering Herd next season, including Trinidad's Volleyball Player of the Year Kelly-Anne Billingy.
Jacobs once again tested international waters by signing Billingy, a native of Trincity, Trinidad, who will join two Germans in the Thundering Herd lineup next year. Billingy was named Volleyball Player of the Year, best attacker and best server in the A Division of the Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation National League (TTVFNL) in 2002, the nation?s top volleyball league. The 6-3 outside hitter was selected as the Caribbean Junior Volleyball Championships most valuable player and best attacker last season.
?Kelly-Anne brings a dominating offensive force to our team,? Jacobs said. ?She hits with tremendous power and, at six-foot-three, she puts a player on the outside that helps immediately with the graduation of Tracey King and Isabell Anderer."
Billingy was also honored as the Most Outstanding Player in the Invitational Tour of Guyana in 2002 and was awarded MVP accolades in each year as she advanced through subsequent age levels in the TTVFNL.
?She (Billingy) will solidify the outside hitter position with Jen Harper and Christin Bimberg returning. She makes us deep at that position.?
Carlee Maddox, an all-state first team selection in 2003, will also play for the Herd next year. The St. Joseph?s, Mich., native led St. Joseph?s High School to the state semifinals to culminate a four-year starting career at her soon to be alma mater.
?A dynamic left-handed athlete who is a strong attacker, she (Maddox) carried her club team offensively at the Junior Olympics last year,? Jacobs said.
Maddox is a 6-0 right side hitter who was named to the all-tournament team at the Junior Olympics in Atlanta in June.
Chelsea Lazar, a 5-11 middle hitter, will wear the Green & White in 2004. The East Lake, Fla., native was a three-year starter at East Lake High School and was named an all-state honorable mention her junior season. She led her squad to the regional semifinals of the Florida Class 5A Championships in her senior campaign and served as the captain of East Lake.
?Chelsea thrives on the defensive end and is one of the best blocking middle players I?ve seen,? Jacobs said. ?She has extreme quickness and can easily develop her offensive skills. She reminds me of (former Herd standout) Heidi Kuethe in her blocking ability.?
Kuethe was an all-MAC second team selection in 2002 and was the Herd?s leading blocker last season with 146, the third most blocks in one season in school history.
Lazar was named a St. Pete Times Player to Watch and was chosen to play in the Pinellas County Senior All-Star Match. Her junior year saw East Lake run all the way to the Florida state finals after winning a district championship earlier in the postseason.
Marshall also secured the services of Stephanie Cahill out of Louisville, Ky. Cahill is a 5-10 outside hitter who excelled at both Presentation High School, first team all-state, and as a member of several junior national and AAU teams. She guided her AAU team to the national championship in 2003 and back-to-back national runners-up finishes in 2001-2002.
?Stephanie brings a sound all-around game and is a very aggressive, ball-control player,? Jacobs said. ?She played in high-level volleyball systems since she was young and impressed the heck out of our players when she was at our camp last summer.?
Cahill was an AAU All-American in 1999 and 2000.
?We?ve got four young players coming in with an extremely deep amount of experience at top levels and/or in the international scene,? Jacobs said. ?It?s the most decorated group to come to Marshall in one recruiting class.?
Jacobs will also have the option of playing West Virginia native Jan Bierce out of Wheeling, who will look to challenge the Herd lineup as a walk-on in 2004. Bierce, 5-3, attends John Marshall High School where she was a two-year starter, earning an all-Ohio Valley Athletic Conference nod as well as a West Virginia All-Star selection in 2003 while leading her team in digs and assists her junior and senior seasons. Jacobs will look to insert Bierce, the first player in John Marshall history to attend a Division I school for volleyball, primarily as a defensive specialist/libero.
Bierce was a Marshall County Scholar-Athlete of the Week and is a member of the National Honor Society (3.8 GPA).
Marshall, 21-16 in 2003, tallied its most wins in seven years this season and posted its first MAC Tournament win ever en route to a conference tournament championship appearance.
