Date Posted: 11/14/2007

MACON, Ga. – In their first year in the league the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles stormed to the regular season championship, winning 10 of their 11 matches against A-Sun competition. Junior outside hitter Ana Kokanovic added more hardware to the Florida Gulf Coat trophy case as the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon.

Kokanovic also earned First-Team All-Atlantic Sun honors in her first year in the league. Teammate Roberta Santos (Jr., setter) joined her on the first-team. Kokanovic ranked fourth in the A-Sun in kills per game and sixth in hitting percentage. The Lasarevac, Serbia native led the league with a conference-record 88 service aces, and hit over .400 and averaged o\more than four kills per game against conference foes. Kokanovic and Santos each earned Player of the Week honors in the regular season. Belmont senior Colleen Nilson (conference leader in assists) earned her fourth consecutive first-team selection, becoming the first player to accomplish that feat since Sarah Jane Mungo of Georgia State from 1988-91. Nilson’s teammate, junior outside hitter Cat Mundy (second in the A-Sun in kills and kills per game), earned her first career first-team selection. The A-Sun’s blocks leader, Jacksonville’s Melissa Merchant (152 total blocks, 1.55 per game), was voted to the first team, as well as Lipscomb’s Sarah Snider, the conference’s leader in kills and kills per game (509/4.94). ETSU senior libero Kaena Apana rounded out the first-team honorees.

Apana, who set a new Atlantic Sun standard for digs in a season, was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year after digging 721 balls for the year; an average of 6.22 per game. In just two seasons, Apana has amassed 1,358 digs, good for fourth on the A-Sun’s career list.

Seven different schools were represented on the second-team with Belmont’s Emily Cahill (top-five in hitting percentage) and ETSU’s Callie Kiselich reprising their 2006 appearances as second-teamers. Belmont’s Jaye Schuler (top-three in hitting percentage) and Lipscomb’s Ann Mullins (A-Sun’s career digs leader) received postseason recognition for the second consecutive year, and Mercer’s Jen Darty (second in the league in blocks), a 2006 All-Freshman Team performer, was also named to the second-team. Campbell’s Femi Alabi (top-10 in hitting percentage), Florida Gulf Coast’s Brooke Youngquist (top-10 in kills), and Sara Bendorf of Jacksonville (top-10 in kills), rounded out the second-team.

With three all-conference performers and the regular season championship to its name, the Eagles’ head coach, Jaye Flood was named the league’s Coach of the Year. Flood helped guide Florida Gulf Coast to a three-loss season in its first season as a Division I member.

ETSU, Jacksonville and Lipscomb were the only three institutions to place players on the All-Freshman Team with the Dolphins leading the way with three honorees. Jacksonville’s Abby Gruenbacher, Hannah Munneke and Aidan Yeager became the first trio of teammates named to the All-Freshman Team since Belmont had three honorees in 2004; included among those Bruins celebrated in ’04 were 2007 All-Conference selections Colleen Nilson and Jaye Schuler. A pair of Lady Bucs, Desirée Dyck and Laura Waddell; both ranking in the top-10 in the league in kills, also earned recognition on the All-Freshman squad. Lipscomb freshman setter Stefine Pease doubled-up as an All-Freshman team selection as well as claiming the league’s Freshman of the Year award. Pease’s teammate Alex Kelly rounded out the best of the freshman class.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 12-member league committed to Building Winners for Life, with a focus on academic and athletic integrity and a balance between the two for the student-athlete, and maintaining a high level of sportsmanship. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun encompasses six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun consists of some of the most dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Gardner-Webb University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.

Related Links:
 • Championship Coverage
 • All-Conference Teams