Northwestern University Athletics
Lange Named Unanimous All-Big Ten Selection
12/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 2, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern junior middle blocker Erika Lange (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) has earned All-Big Ten honors as voted by the conference's volleyball head coaches. Lange was one of five players to be named a unanimous selection.
She is the first Northwestern player to be named to the All-Big Ten first team since Madelyn Maneghetti and Jackie Nu?ez earned the honor in 1984. Lange earned honorable mention honors last season and was a preseason all-conference selection prior to each of the past two seasons.
"Erika is very deserving of this honor," Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan said. "She has had a phenomenal year and was probably the most dominating middle blocker in the Big Ten. Her consistent play has helped us to get where we are this season. We are thrilled for her."
This year, Lange ranked first in the conference with a 1.46 blocks-per-game average, second with a .347 hitting percentage and third with a 4.30 kills-per-game average. She leads the Wildcats in all three categories. Her hitting percentage broke the previous single-season school record of .306 set by Janine Makar in 1987.
Lange currently ranks second in school history with 413 career block assists and third with 480 total blocks. Her 135 block assists this season is the second highest NU single-season total, trailing her own school record by 11.
At 17-15 overall and 10-10 in the Big Ten, she helped Northwestern post the school's most Big Ten and overall victories since 1990. Lange and the Wildcats earned their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1984. NU will take on Missouri in the opening round of the tournament at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
ALL-BIG TEN
NAME CL POS. HOMETOWN / HIGH SCHOOL
Melissa Brewer, INDIANA JR MB Bloomington, Ind./North
Erin Moore, MICHIGAN JR MB Tiffin, Ohio/Columbian
Angela Morley, MICHIGAN ST. SR MB Holland, Mich./West Ottowa
Cassie Busse, MINNESOTA* JR OPP Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake Christian
Paula Gentil, MINNESOTA FR LIB Fortaleza Ceara, Brazil/Lake Highland Prep (Fla.)
Lindsey Vander Well, MINNESOTA SO S Prinsburg, Minn./Central Minnesota Christian
Erika Lange, NORTHWESTERN* JR MB Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg
Stacey Gordon, OHIO STATE* SO OH Oshawa, Ontario/Eastdale Collegiate
Cara Smith, PENN STATE* JR MH Lafayette, Ind./Harrison
Mishka Levy, PENN STATE SR OH Houston, Texas/Episcopal
Erin Byrd, WISCONSIN* SR OH Glen Ellyn, Ill./St. Francis
Morgan Shields, WISCONSIN JR S Watertown, Wis./Watertown
HONORABLE MENTION: ILLINOIS: Sue Webber; INDIANA: Katie Pollom, Christina Archibald; OHIO STATE: Shelly Draeger, Katie Virtue, Suzie Stiling; PENN STATE: Robyn Guokas, Sam Tortorello
