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AU Volleyball Sweeps Player and Rookie of the Year Awards
Eagles lead with five players named to all-league teams

Karla Kucerkova	Cutrina Biddulph

WASHINGTON — American University’s Karla Kucerkova (Olomouc, Czech/Brno) repeats as Patriot League Volleyball Player of the Year and Cutrina Biddulph (Reseda, Calif./Granada Hills) earned Patriot League Volleyball Rookie of the Year honors as announced today by the Patriot League Office. Four other AU student-athletes were named to the Second-Team All-Patriot League as the Eagles led with five of the 12 spots between the two teams.

The Second-Team All-Patriot League selections from American were senior Judit Szekelyhidi (Ujszentivan, Hungary/Szegedian Club), sophomores Courtney Mulford (San Diego, Calif./La Costa Canyon) and Cathy Fluegeman (Muncie, Ind./Burris Laboratory School) and Biddulph. Kucerkova was the lone AU pick to the first team.

The Eagle honorees stand atop five of the six individual statistical categories in the Patriot League this season. Fluegeman (.448), Kucerkova (.405) and Biddulph (.347) own the top three hitting percentages, respectively. Kucerkova leads in kills per game with 4.87 and Biddulph has the most blocks per game with 1.15. Mulford leads the Patriot League with 11.27 assists and .73 service aces per game. The six-foot setter also is ranked among the top 20 in the nation in aces per game.

Cathy Fluegeman	Courtney Mulford	Judit Szekelyhidi

The American University volleyball team, ranked third in the Division 1 Northeast Region Coaches Poll this week, has earned several accolades in 2002. Kucerkova , who reached the 1,000th kill plateau this season, earned a spot along with teammate Natalie Hand (Keizer, Ore./McNary) on the Verizon Academic All-District II First Team for the second year in a row by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). She was also named the Patriot League Player of the Week twice and earned all-tournament accolades at the Louisville Classic and the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Tournament.

Three times this season Biddulph took home Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors and was also a member of the Duke Classic All-Tournament Team. Mulford was named a Patriot League Player of the Week and ECAC Division 1 Volleyball Player of the Week. She and Szekelyhidi were both selected to the American Volleyball Classic and UMES All-Tournament Teams. Fluegeman has come on strong this season, reaching a career-high 12 kills in two matches including a key win over regionally ranked Georgetown in October.

American, which finished its second straight Patriot League regular season undefeated with a 14-0 record, is seventh in the nation in hitting percentage and is ranked eighth in the nation in aces per game. AU (24-6), will host the Patriot League Championships on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23 at Bender Arena. The winner of the tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins with the first round on Dec. 5.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, recently completed its inaugural year of membership in the Patriot League. The University had an extremely successful year to date on respective fields of play, capturing league championships in men's cross country, women's cross country, men’s soccer, women's soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.