Alix Klineman, Cassidy Lichtman and Gabi Ailes wanted to be playing one more week of volleyball. Their season, however, was cut short when Stanford was eliminated in the Dayton Region final this past weekend — thus ending the college careers of the Cardinal senior trio.
Despite that disappointment, the three seniors nonetheless have been honored for their standout seasons by being named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America team on Wednesday. Klineman and Lichtman earned first-team honors while Ailes was named to the third team.
The selections bring Stanford’s total AVCA All-America award count to 66 honors spread over 26 players. This marks the fourth All-America honor for Klineman, while Ailes and Lichtman are being recognized for the second time in their careers. It marks the sixth consecutive year the Cardinal has boasted more than one All-American in the same season.
Klineman is the 2010 Pac-10 Player of the Year. With 89 kills in four NCAA Tournament matches, the outside hitter became the sixth player in Pac-10 history and just the second in school history to record 2,000 career kills. She finishes her career fifth all-time in Pac-10 history with 2,008 kills. Earlier this season she became the eighth Stanford player to register both 1,000 career kills and digs. Klineman led the Pac-10 in kills (5.55) and points per set (6.25), while also ranking second in the nation in both categories. Her 605 kills this season and her .372 hitting percentage are both career highs.
As a setter/hitter, Lichtman led the team with 18 double-doubles, including four triple-doubles. A key all-around player, she is averaged 2.28 kills, 7.92 assists and 2.48 digs per set this season. Her 2,366 career assists ranks eighth-best in Stanford history. Lichtman earned Pac-10 Player of the Week twice this season for her efforts against the Los Angeles and Arizona schools in November. She finished with a double-double in three of the team’s four NCAA Tournament matches.
Ailes, a libero, broke every Stanford digs record during her time on The Farm. The career leader with 2,147, Ailes is just the seventh Pac-10 player to record over 2,000 digs and finishes her career fourth all-time in the history of the conference. She averaged 4.64 digs per set this season, upping that mark to 5.23 digs per set in conference play, and recorded double-digit digs in 30 of the team’s 31 matches this season.
The Pac-10 totaled five first team selections, the most by any conference. Joining Klineman and Lichtman on the first team were California’s Carli Lloyd and Tarah Murrey and USC’s Alex Jupiter. In total, 12 players from the conference earned AVCA All-America honors in 2010.
— Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Sports Information
— Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Sports Information
— Palo Alto Online Sports/Stanford Sports Information