Smith Earns Second-Team All-America Honors
December 13, 2000 | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 13, 2000
LUBBOCK, Texas - Senior outside hitter Colleen Smith was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association second-team All-America list, the AVCA announced Friday afternoon.
The 2000 All-America First and Second teams were announced on Friday afternoon at a press conference at the site of the 2000 Final Four that is being held in Richmond, Va. Dec. 14-16. Smith's second-team selection made her the first Texas Tech volleyball player to earn All-America honors.
"I extremely proud for Colleen because she truly deserves this honor," said Texas Tech Head Coach Jeff Nelson. "Colleen is a very dominating player and put up large numbers of kills and blocks for our team this season. I was really impressed with her performance this season especially since we moved her over from the right side to the left. It takes a really special player to earn All-America honors after changing positions and I think Colleen did a great job of adjusting and making positive things happen for us this year."
Smith finished her two-year career at Texas Tech in impressive fashion becoming arguably the most dominating player to ever wear a Red Raider volleyball uniform. Smith set the single-season kill mark this season after putting down 560 kills surpassing the previous mark of 431 set by Brande Brown during the 1997 season. Her 560 kills this season gives Smith a two year total of 918 which puts her in ninth place on the career kill list at Tech.
"I am just totally speechless," said Smith. "When I talked to coach Nelson this morning and he told me, I just couldn't believe it. I am really excited about being honored this way and I think that it is only a reflection of the great program we have at Texas Tech. I couldn't have done any of this without the help of my coaches and teammates."
Smith, one of four Big 12 players named to the All-America list, will join the other 23 players in Richmond, Va. where the team will be recognized during the national championship game on Dec. 16.