Guilliard-Young Earns All-Big 12 Volleyball Honors
11/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 29, 2004
WACO, Texas - Baylor sophomore middle blocker Desiree Guilliard-Young earned honorable mention All-Big 12 Conference honors the league office announced Monday.
"The team and I are proud of Des, she had a great season and we expect great things from her in the future," head coach Jim Barnes said. "She faced a lot of teams that put their whole game plan toward stopping her and she was still able to put up the numbers she did. She's the catalyst for our team - if she's playing well then everyone else seems to play well."
The 6-foot-5 Berkeley, Calif., native led the Bears with a .300 attacking percentage, ranked third with 2.87 kills per game and second with 1.37 blocks per game and 409.5 points. Guilliard-Young also ranked seventh in the Big 12 in blocks per game, sixth in league play.
"Her blocks per game ranked among the Big 12 leaders, but that doesn't count all of the touches she had and attacks she changed," Barnes added. "I think a big reason why she received this honor is her ability to change a game very quickly just by her presence offensively and defensively at the net.
Guilliard-Young recorded a career-high 17 kills at Texas Tech Oct. 27 and a career-high 10 blocks at Iowa State Oct. 6, the first double-digit effort of her career. Guilliard-Young's career attack percentage of .308 currently ranks second on Baylor's all-time list and she has moved up to 10th on Baylor's all-time blocks list with 292 for her career in only two seasons.
Guilliard-Young and all of the Bears' starters return in 2005 since there were no seniors. Baylor will also have three other letterwinners that saw significant playing time in 2004 returning next season.
"Coming we knew we would be without four players from last year and this year was all about gaining experience," Barnes said. "Seven teams made it to the NCAA Tournament from the Big 12 and we feel with everyone returning, we're right there with them, we just need some more experience."
Texas took its share of the honors as Jerritt Elliott was named coach of the year, Mira Topic was named player of the year and Dariam Acevedo was named newcomer of the year. Nebraska's Sarah Pavan took freshman of the year honors, while Texas A&M's Melissa Munsch and Nebraska's Jennifer Saleaumua were co-defensive players of the year and Kansas State's Angie Lastra was named libero of the year.
