Northwestern University Athletics
Two Northwestern Standouts Earn All-Big Ten Honors
11/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 29, 2011
PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- The Big Ten Conference announced its annual award recipients Tuesday and a pair of Northwestern Wildcats are among those being honored. Stephanie Holthus has been selected to the 2011 All-Big Ten team and Katie Dutchman has earned a spot on the All-Freshman team as chosen by the conference's 12 head coaches.
"Our entire program is thrilled for both Stephanie and Katie today," said Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan. "Both ladies represented the Wildcats wonderfully this season from start to finish. I'm very proud that they continually put in the work necessary to earn this distinguished honor."
After being named to the All-Freshman team in 2010, Holthus (Burlington, Ill./Central) continued to elevate her play as a sophomore. The outside hitter led the Wildcats in several key statistical categories, including kills (475), attempts (1,453) and points (530.5). Her total of 475 kills marked the seventh-highest single-season output in Northwestern annals.
Amongst her peers in the Big Ten, Holthus finished the regular season fourth in both kills with 4.17 per set and points with 4.65 per set; she ranks 31st nationally in kills per set and 36th in points per set.
Holthus was the Big Ten's first Player of the Week this season. She earned the honor on Aug. 29 following a prolific opening weekend at the Utah Classic. The Burlington, Ill., native averaged 5.89 kills per set in the tournament, which included wins over Cal State-Northridge, Weber State and Utah for the Wildcats. In the tournament finale against the Utes, Holthus eclipsed the 20-kill plateau for the first time in her career with 21 in a three-set sweep. That eye-popping number tied the outside hitter for fifth all-time for the most kills in a three-set match in NU history.
In addition to claiming MVP honors at the Utah Classic, Holthus was chosen as the most valuable player in two other preseasons tournaments for the 'Cats: the Chicagoland Challenge and the 30th Wildcat Classic. She was also named to the All-Tournament team at the Magnolia Invitational. In those four tournaments combined, Holthus averaged 5.05 kills per set and 2.95 digs per set. She tallied eight service aces and 27 total blocks over that span, as well.
Holthus led the team with 15 double-doubles in 2011, while establishing career-high efforts in several categories. On Sept. 9, Holthus scored 26 kills against Central Arkansas and on Oct. 22, she equaled a career-high with 20 digs in a three-set win over Iowa. Against the Wisconsin Badgers on Oct. 29, Holthus handed out a career-high three assists and sent down seven total blocks.
"Stephanie got off to a fantastic start this season and she kept it going into the Big Ten schedule," said Chan. "We knew we would have to rely on her heavily at times this year and she was regularly up to the challenge."
Dutchman (Del Mar, Calif./Torrey Pines) took a redshirt in her first year on campus in 2010 as she studied behind Sabel Moffett and Naomi Johnson, two of the most productive middle blockers in program history. In 2011, Dutchman took what she learned and turned in a fantastic season as she was named to the All-Freshman team Tuesday.
The Californian led the Wildcats with 158 total blocks, including a team-best 16 solo efforts. Dutchman finished the regular season ranked second in the Big Ten in blocks with 1.39 per set and fourth with 0.33 service aces per frame. Nationally, Dutchman ranks 15th overall in blocks per set.
The month of October was a particularly memorable one for Dutchman as she claimed three straight Freshman and Defensive Player of the Week laurels. On Oct. 17 and Oct. 24, Dutchman was named Co-Freshman and Co-Defensive Player of the Week. Then on Oct. 31, the middle blocker won both awards exclusively following victories over No. 15 Minnesota and Wisconsin at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Dutchman became the third player in Big Ten history to win a weekly award three straight times.
During the six-match stretch that encompassed the streak, the first-year player was nearly unstoppable at the net as she averaged 2.04 blocks per set. Dutchman had several memorable matches during her inaugural campaign on the court. She tallied 20 points (11 kills, nine total blocks) against Central Arkansas; she buried a career-best 12 kills against No. 12 Purdue on Sept. 28 and notched five service aces on Oct. 5 at No. 8 Penn State. On Oct. 15 against No. 20 Michigan, Dutchman earned 11 total blocks, the third-best single-match output in the Big Ten this season.
"Katie stepped up in a very big way throughout her first season of competition for us," said Chan. "She was a reliable presence in the middle that we were able to count on night in and night out. Both she and Stephanie [Holthus] have bright futures at Northwestern and in this game."
Madalyn Shalter (Ottawa, Ohio/Ottawa-Glandorf) was chosen as Northwestern's Sportsmanship honoree. In her first season as the primary setter for the Wildcats, Shalter handed out 1,121 assists and ranked fourth on the team with 261 digs.
The Wildcats concluded the 2011 campaign on Saturday, Nov. 26 with the program's first-ever victory over No. 2 Nebraska. Northwestern had dropped its first four matches and 11 sets against the Cornhuskers ahead of Saturday's premier triumph.
2011 B1G Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Ariel Turner - Purdue
Defensive Player of the Year: Katie Slay - Penn State
Freshman of the Year: Micha Hancock - Penn State
Coach of the Year: Dave Shondell - Purdue
All-B1G Team
Michelle Bartsch - Illinois
Colleen Ward* - Illinois
Jenilee Rathje* - Michigan State
Tori Dixon - Minnesota
Ashley Wittman* - Minnesota
Lauren Cook - Nebraska
Gina Mancuso* - Nebraska
Hannah Werth - Nebraska
Stephanie Holthus - Northwestern
Mari Hole - Ohio State
Deja McClendon - Penn State
Ariel Scott* - Penn State
Katie Slay - Penn State
Tiffany Fisher* - Purdue
Ariel Turner* - Purdue
All-B1G Honorable Mention
Alex Hunt - Michigan
Kyndra Abron - Michigan State
Morgan Broekhuis - Nebraska
Brooke Delano - Nebraska
Emily Danks - Ohio State
Alexis Mitchell - Wisconsin
All-Freshman Team
Liz McMahon - Illinois
Lexi Dannemiller - Michigan
Katie Dutchman - Northwestern
Micha Hancock* - Penn State
Kierra Jones - Purdue
Ellen Chapman - Wisconsin
Courtney Thomas - Wisconsin
* - denotes unanimous selections
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