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GLIAC Honors: NMU’s Lopes, Freshman of the Year; HC’s Dow, Libero of the Year, HC’s Gravel, Coach of the Year

BAY CITY, Mich. - Hillsdale College junior outside hitter Ashlee Croweder (Jenison, Mich.) was named the 2010 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) volleyball “Player of the Year” in voting conducted by the league’s head coaches. Northern Michigan University outside hitter Ana Lopes (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) was tabbed  “Freshman of the Year” while Hillsdale College junior Sydney Dow (Jonesville, Mich.) earned “Libero of the Year” honors for the second-consecutive year.  Hillsdale’s Chris Gravel was named “Coach of the Year” by his peers for the second time in as many seasons.

Crowder becomes the third Hillsdale College volleyball player to earn the GLIAC “Player of the Year” honor in the past five seasons. She leads the Chargers in kills this season and has improved her hitting percentage by nearly 100 points over last season. She already ranks as one of the most highly honored player in the program’s history, having been named GLIAC “Freshman of the Year,” First-Team All-GLIAC, First Team All-Region and Third Team All-American during her career. She joins Taryn Rudland (2006) and Melissa Bartlett (2007) as Charger volleyball players who have been named the top performer in the conference. Crowder already ranks third in school history in career kills.

Lopes has led nationally-ranked Northern Michigan to a 21-5 overall record and a 15-4 mark in the GLIAC for a third-place finish. The freshman outside hitter from Belo Horizonte, Brazil played in all 26 matches for the ‘Cats and appeared in all but one set this season. Lopes currently leads the Wildcats in kills (286), digs (292) and service aces (45). She also has 31 assists and 31 total blocks this season.

Dow was named the GLIAC “Libero of the Year” for the second year in a row.  She has led the Chargers in digs in each of the past three seasons and ranks second in school history in that category. Dow is the first GLIAC player to pick up back-to-back “Libero of the Year” awards since Grand Valley State’s Allyson Riley did it in 2006 and 2007. A team captain for the past two seasons, Dow was a First-Team All-Region player in 2009 and a winner of the GLIAC Commissioner’s Award in the same season.

Gravel was named the GLIAC “Coach of the Year” for the second consecutive season. This is the fourth time Gravel has earned the conference’s highest coaching honor, earning the award in a season where he guided Hillsdale College to an undefeated regular season. The Chargers’ 19-0 GLIAC record ties the 1998 Northern Michigan University team for the best single-season conference record in GLIAC history. Gravel won his 300th career match back on Oct. 23. He had previously won GLIAC “Coach of the Year” honors in 1999, 2006 and 2009.

        A complete list of the 2010 All-GLIAC Volleyball teams can be found below: