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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Henritze Named Ivy Volleyball Player Of The Year, Leads Cast Of Five All-League Picks For Ivy Champions
November 20, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Junior Parker Henritze led all Ivy League women's volleyball players in kills and aces this season. She also led in Player of the Year votes, and it wasn't close. Henritze was the unanimous selection for 2007 Ivy League Player of the Year, and she became the seventh player in league history to win both Rookie and Player of the Year honors in her career. In all, the 2007 Princeton women's volleyball team, which won its last 20 matches and became the first team in Ivy League history to go 14-0 in league play, received five All-Ivy selections, including three first-team nods.
Henritze and classmates Lindsey Ensign and Bailey Robinson each earned first-team All-Ivy honors. Sophomore outside Sheena Donohue earned second-team honors, while senior libero Jenny McReynolds earned All-Ivy honorable mention.
Henritze, a unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection, led the Ivy League with 4.62 kills per match and 0.68 aces per match. She finished second on the team in digs with 3.45 per game, and she chipped in with .35 blocks and .27 assists per game. She was even better in Ivy League matches, averaging 5.21 kills and 3.79 digs per game, and against the next three top teams in the league standings (Yale, Dartmouth and Penn), the numbers went up to 5.73 kills and 4.08 digs.
"The great thing about Parker is that she can take over a match in a variety of ways," head coach Glenn Nelson said. "Hitting, passing, blocking, she can really do it all. She can contribute to every part of the team game. She's similar to the player [current assistant coach and 1999 Player of the Year] Sabrina King was, except taller and more intimidating."
Henritze, a three-time All-Ivy selection and a two-time first-team pick, is the first Princeton women's volleyball player ever to win both the Ivy League Rookie and Player of the Year honors in her career. She is also the fifth Princeton fall athlete to earn top individual honors in 2007, joining Liz Costello (women's cross country), Michael Maag (men's cross country), Diana Matheson (women's soccer) and Paige Schmidt (field hockey).
Ensign, also a unanimous selection, led the Ivy League in hitting percentage (.429) by more than .85 over any other player in the league. She ranked third in kills with 410, which is all the more impressive considering that, among all players ranked in the Top 10 in hitting percentage, she was the only player with at least 250 kills. Ensign led Princeton with .85 blocks per game and is a first-team All-Ivy selection for the second consecutive season.
Robinson, also a junior, the NCAA leader in assists, earned first-team honors after a second-team performance in 2006. She recorded 14.47 assists per game, more than 2.3 assists per game better than any setter in the league. She was the focal point of an offense that led the league in kills (17.39), assists (16.05) and hitting percentage (.261) this season.
Donohue earned All-Ivy honors for the first time by finishing second in the league with 4.49 kills per game. The sophomore was third at Princeton with 2.96 digs per game, and over the final two weeks of the season was playing as well as anybody in the league. She had 60 kills in her last three matches and was the driving force during Princeton's Ivy-clinching 3-0 victory at Brown.
McReynolds, a former first-team All-Ivy pick and the 2005 CVU.com Libero of the Year, returned after missing the 2006 season and shook off the rust quickly. She finished third in the league with 5.65 digs per game and was Princeton's premier passer during its season-ending 20-match win streak. McReynolds was a starter on the 2004 Ivy League championship squad, although that team never got to play in the NCAAs because it fell in a playoff match against Cornell.
That won't be an issue this season, as the perfect Tigers and their record-breaking head coach await word of its NCAA destination, which will come Sunday at 8 p.m. (ESPNU). The NCAA tournament will begin Nov. 29, although first-round matches will occur on the 29th, 30th and Dec. 1.