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Virginia Volleyball Announces 1999 Team Awards
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June 5, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – University of Virginia head volleyball coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton has announced the team’s annual awards for the 1999 season. Recent graduate Mary Frances Scott (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Prep) has been named the team’s Most Valuable Player. Classmate Whitney Bilger (La Jolla, Calif./The Bishops School) is the recipient of the Wahoowa Award. Rising fourth-years Deanna Zwarich (Overland Park, Kan./Shawnee Mission North) and Katie Jones (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood) were named the Most Outstanding Offensive and Defensive Players, respectively, while the Cavaliers’ Most Improved Player Award went to rising third-year Jenny Harmon (Virginia Beach, Va./Salem).
Scott, a four-year starting setter and 1999 co-captain, finished her outstanding career with 6,044 assists and ranks 10th all-time on the NCAA Division I assists list. Scott is second all-time among the ACC’s assists leaders. She nearly doubled the former UVa assist record of 3,071. Scott was selected to the 12-member 1999 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-District 3 team in a vote of the district’s head coaches and was also a first-team All-ACC pick. In addition to leading the team in assists with 1,482 Scott tied for team-high honors in service aces with 37 and was second in digs (321), third in total blocks (93) and sixth in kills (116). She recorded her first career triple-double against N.C. State (Oct. 9) with 65 assists, 14 digs and 10 kills.
Bilger, the team’s emotional leader, had her best season as a senior in 1999 and was the recipient of the Wahoowa Award for her team spirit and inspiration. The outside hitter notched career highs in kills (215), digs (223), blocks (34), assists (25) and service aces (23). Bilger set a new career high for kills in a match with 21 in a 3-1 win over Georgia Tech (Oct. 15). Her 19 digs against James Madison (Nov. 12) are also a career best in that category.
Zwarich earned the ‘Hoos Most Outstanding Offensive Player Award after setting career highs in five categories. She was second on the team and established career bests in kills (414) and blocks (114). Zwarich, a middle blocker, also notched 276 digs, 26 assists and 21 service aces to set new career highs. Zwarich posted a pair of triple-doubles during the 1999 campaign and became the fourth UVa player to be selected to the ACC All-Tournament team.
Jones garnered the team’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award after leading Virginia in digs in 1999 with 362. The outside hitter tied for team-high honors in service aces with 37 and was also among the team leaders in kills with 276, just four shy of her career high. She was second among all ACC players with an average of 3.29 digs per game and needs just 44 more in her career to reach 1,000. Three times in 1999, Jones surpassed the 20-kill mark in a match, including a career-high 25 against Alabama (Sept. 4) in the Jefferson Cup and was named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts.
Harmon, a middle blocker, played in 25 matches and a total of 58 games before missing the last part of the season with an illness. During the season, Harmon gained valuable experience and totaled 48 kills, 36 blocks and 25 digs. She was a major factor in UVa’s 3-2 win over Rice in the Jefferson Cup in September as she notched career bests of 12 kills, 10 total blocks and four digs.
The Cavaliers finished the 1999 season with a 19-12 overall record and a 9-7 mark in the ACC. Virginia earned its second consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament in 1999, but fell to Arizona 3-0 in the first round on December 2, in Austin, Texas.