Nov. 27, 2007

Grand Valley State had three student-athletes named to the 2007 AVCA All-American Teams for their outstanding play this season. Senior libero Allyson Riley earned AVCA DII Second-Team All-American honors, junior middle blocker Danielle Alexander was named to the Third-Team, and senior middle blocker Erica Vandekopple earned Honorable Mention plaudits.

Riley, an AVCA DII First-Team All-American a season ago, has earned AVCA All-Great Lakes Region, Daktronics Great Lakes All-Region First-Team, GLIAC Libero of the Year, and All-GLIAC First-Team plaudits. She has played in 114 games and 33 matches as libero for the Lakers and leads the team with 658 digs. Her 658 digs this season ranks second on the GVSU single-season list behind her 713 digs from 2005. Her 5.77 digs per game ranks first on the Lakers single-seaosn list and she ranks first on GVSU's career leaders list with 2,460 career digs. Her 188 career service aces ranks seventh on the Lakers career list.

Alexander has been named to the AVCA All-Great Lakes Region, Daktronics Great Lakes All-Region Second-Team, All-GLIAC First-Team and GLIAC All-Tournament Teams this season. She was also named GLIAC North Division Player of the Week three times. Alexander has played in all 128 games and 36 matches for the Lakers and ranks second on the team with 3.09 kills per game. Her .327 hitting percentage ranks 34th in the nation. She has tallied 1.13 blocks per game, which ranks 79th in the nation. Danielle has recorded 10+ kills in 18 matches this season and has tallied at least one block in 35 out of 36 matches.

This season, Vandekopple has earned AVCA All-Great Lakes Region, Great Lakes Region All-Tournament Team, Daktronics Great Lakes All-Region Second Team, ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District IV College Division Volleybal, and All-GLIAC First-Team plaudits. She was also named the GLIAC North Division Player of the Week honors the week of Sept. 17. Erica has played in 126 games and all 36 matches for the Lakers and leads the GLIAC and ranks 25th in the nation with a .360 hitting percentage. She is averaging 3.25 kills per game, which also leads the team. She has recorded 10+ kills in 23 out of 36 matches and posted at least one service ace in 24 matches.

Grand Valley has advanced to the NCAA DII Elite Eight for the sixth time in eight years. The Lakers will play West Texas A&M on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 3:30 p.m. ET.