Nov. 21, 2007

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--Five members of the Yale volleyball team are from Southern California. So is head coach Erin Appleman. They all got to go home for Thanksgiving--and they took their teammates with them. What the Bulldogs hoped would be NCAA prep instead turned into a chance to spend the holiday together. Yale (16-7) concludes the 2007 season with three matches this weekend at the Baden Thanksgiving Tournament in Long Beach, Calif. The Bulldogs take on host Long Beach State (21-6) Friday at 3 p.m. ET before facing No. 8 Florida (26-1) at 10 p.m. ET. Yale concludes the tournament with a matchup against UC Santa Barbara (11-18) Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.

Four Bulldogs were named All-Ivy on Tuesday. Alexis Crusey earned a selection to the first team for the second straight year. She leads the team with 4.14 kills per game and 17 solo blocks and ranks second with 3.94 digs per game. Kelly Ozurovich and Ally Mendenhall were named second team All-Ivy. Ozurovich has 401 digs this season, the second-highest single-season total in Yale history, and averages 5.34 digs per game. Mendenhall distributes 12.16 assists and adds 2.94 digs per game. Kali Nelson was tabbed honorable mention All-Ivy. She is third on the team in kills (149) and fourth in kills per game (2.04). Mendenhall is the only one of the four not from Southern California.

Long Beach State received votes in this week's CSTV/AVCA Coaches' Poll. The three-time National Champion 49ers finished second in the Big West with a 14-2 conference record. Three Long Beach State players were selected first team All-Big West. Four-time first team All-Big West selection and All-American candidate Alexis Crimes leads the 49ers with 4.66 kills per game and a hitting percentage of .367. She also boasts a team-leading 1.26 blocks per game. Fellow first team All-Big West selection Michaela Hasalikova averages 2.72 kills and 1.13 blocks per game. Quincy Verdin was also named first team All-Big West. She averages 3.33 kills per game. Nicole Vargas and Talaya Whitfield earned honorable mention All-Big West recognition. Vargas dishes out 11.83 assists per game, while Whitfield leads the team with 5.30 digs per game. Pay-per-view video of Yale-Long Beach State will be available on www.bigwest.tv.

Two points are all that separates Florida from a perfect season. The Gators' only defeat came at Arkansas, where they lost game five 20-18. All-American candidate Marcie Hampton was named the SEC Player of the Year. She is averaging 4.47 kills, 3.22 digs and 0.59 blocks per game. Amber McCray and Angie McGinnis were also named first team All-SEC. McCray is second on the team with 3.11 kills per game, while McGinnis averages 13.62 assists, 2.32 digs and 1.00 blocks per game. Kelsey Bowers and Kisya Killingworth were second team All-SEC selections. Bowers posts 1.30 blocks per game and Killingworth tallies 1.22. Elyse Cusack averages 5.31 digs per game. Audio coverage of the Yale-Florida match can be heard at www.gatorzone.com.

UC Santa Barbara will likely miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the event's 27-year history. The Gauchos finished with a 6-10 mark in the Big West. Lauren McLaughlin was named first team All-Big West. She leads the team with 4.33 kills per game and contributes 3.11 digs per game. Brett Quirarte also earned a first team All-Big West selection. She averages 3.05 kills and a team-leading 1.15 blocks per game. Dana Vargas claimed a spot on the Big West All-Freshman team after averaging 11.29 assists per game. Leigh Stephenson has 601 digs this season, an average of 5.37 per game.

If the Bulldogs perform well in the tournament, there's still an outside chance Yale could receive an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is Sunday night. Yale finished second in the Ivy League for the third straight year with a 10-4 conference mark.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity