Volleyball's Foster named MIAC Player of the Year

November 04, 2009

St. Thomas All-American Emily Foster (JR-Minnetonka/Hopkins) has added another plum entry to her volleyball resume. The Tommie setter has been named 2009 MIAC Player of the Year and for the third year in a row was selected All-MIAC in a vote of league coaches.

Senior OH Kyley Crotty and junior MB Jill Osborne joined Foster on the 18-player all-conference team. The trio helped the ninth-ranked and 24-6 Tommies to a share of the conference championship with a 10-1 record.

St. Thomas has an excellent chance to reach the NCAA playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. The Toms are the second seed in the six-team MIAC playoffs and play at home Thursday against second-seed St. Olaf.

Foster is the fifth different Tommie in the last eight seasons named MIAC Volleyball Player of the Year. She joins Katie Reynolds (2002), Jane Gibbs (2003), Erika Wetzel (2005) and Katie McCaffrey (2008).

In Foster’s three seasons as a starter, Tommie volleyball is 41-1 vs. conference opponents and 80-14 overall and have never been out of the top 15 in the national poll. In 92 career matches (342 sets), Foster has 3,987 assists, 951 digs, 53 aces and 326 blocks. She’s also been named MIAC Setter/Libero of the Week six times in her career.

It’s the first All-MIAC honor for Crotty, who has been a starter for three seasons. Crotty has 335 kills and 527 digs this season. She has 1,133 digs and 821 kills in 314 career sets and has 19 double-doubles in kills/digs in her last 23 matches this season. Crotty had 15 kills and 32 digs in a five-set loss to No. 1-ranked UW-Oshkosh and had 23 kills and 45 digs in five-set win over No. 6-ranked Carthage. She was named All-Tournament three times this season at St. Mary's, Wash. U and Oshkosh.

Osborne is hitting .322 this season in 113 sets with 278 kills and 48 blocks.

Tommie junior Alesha Nelson was named to the MIAC Sportsmanship Team.

PHOTOS: Top, Kyley Crotty; below, Jill Osborne

Click here to view MIAC website story:

http://www.miac-online.org/news/2009/11/4/WVBALL_1104095409.aspx