Liz Schnelle, Laura Vuyk, Katie Weininger earn All-American honors

By Tim Glon

ADA — Sophomore Liz Schnelle (New Bremen), senior Laura Vuyk (Oregon/Central Catholic) and junior Katie Weininger (Sycamore/Mohawk) were named All-America in voting conducted by members of the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Schnelle was a Third Team All-America honoree and Vuyk and Weininger received Honorable Mention All-America honors.

Schnelle was a First Team All-Great Lakes Region and First Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference pick this year and was Honorable Mention All-Region honoree last season as well as the Region and OAC Freshman of the Year.

She recorded double-digit kills in 32 of 37 games and set a school record with 573 kills this season.

Schnelle ranks 11th all-time at ONU with 1,071 career kills and is second with a .348 hitting percentage in her two seasons as a Polar Bear.

This season, she had a ONU sophomore-record .380 hitting percentage with 90 blocks, 139 digs and 25 service aces.

Also this season, Schnelle was named the AVCA/Sports Import National Player of the Week on Sept. 4.

Vuyk, who is now a two-time Honorable Mention All-American honoree, is also a two-time First Team All-Great Lakes Region and First Team All-OAC recipient.

She was Northern’s best all-around player this season, recording 23 double-doubles and was second on the team in both kills (415) and digs (467).

She is third all-time in school history with 1,689 digs and eighth with 1,176 kills.

Vuyk is one of only four players to have over 1,000 kills and digs for a career.

She also earned Academic All-District honors this season.

Weininger is a two-time All-Great Lakes Region honoree. She also earned First Team All-OAC honors and Academic All-Region honors this year.

She has been the catalyst of the ONU offense, dishing out and ONU junior record 1,616 assists.

Weininger also has recorded 166 kills and has the team’s only triple-double this season with a 46-assist, 11-kill, 11-dig performance in a win over Mount Union on Sept. 19.

Weininger will enter her senior season ranked fourth all-time with 3,259 career assists.

The No. 10-ranked Polar Bears finished their 2007 season 29-7 overall, won the OAC Regular Season and OAC Tournament titles and made their 24th NCAA Tournament appearance, where they reached the Sweet 16.