By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Three Express volleyball student-athletes have earned conference and regional postseason honors.
Lisa Urbanski (Notre Dame Academy/Toledo, Ohio) and Ciarra Wirick (Benjamin Logan/West Liberty, Ohio) were named First Team All-Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC).
Urbanski, a sophomore libero, just completed an outstanding two-year career with the Express. This fall, she totaled a team-high 835 digs, along with 45 aces, 15 kills and 14 assists. She closed her career with 1,788 digs, 122 aces, 33 assists and 22 kills. Her career dig total is the second most all-time, just 92 short of tying the 1,882 that Ellie Comes (2010-11) produced. Her single season totals are both in the top five (953, 2012, 2nd and 835, 2013, 5th). Additionally, her 122 career aces is eighth all-time.
It is the second straight year that Urbanski was named First Team All-OCCAC.
Wirick, meanwhile, had a breakout freshman campaign as one of the best all-around players for the Express. She totaled 776 assists, 337 digs, 233 kills, 49 aces and 38 blocks (five solo). She led the team in assists and aces, was second in digs, fourth in kills and seventh in blocks.
Both Urbanski and Wirick were also named First Team All-Region XII, while Urbanski was named to the Region XII All-Tournament team.
In addition to those two, sophomore middle blocker Jazmine Thomas (Lima Senior/Lima, Ohio) earned her second consecutive Honorable Mention All-OCCAC selection. Much like Urbanski, she closed out a solid career recently. In 2013, she totaled a team-high 296 kills, a team-high 190 blocks (49 solo), 51 digs, five aces and three assists.
For her two-year career, Thomas totaled 606 kills, 374 blocks (95 solo), 84 digs and 10 assists. Her career block total is sixth all-time, just one away from Brittney Bradner's 375 from 2007-08. She holds the sixth (2013) and ninth (2012) highest single season totals.
The Express (22-21 overall) closed out their season last weekend by getting eliminated from the Region XII District E tournament. They finished third in the OCCAC with an 8-4 record, but have still won 12 of the past 14 and three of the last four OCCAC championships.