Cahoon Nominated For Honda Award
The Board of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards has selected Christina Cahoon (Jr. • Watertown), the 2009 NCAA Division III women's volleyball player of the year, as a candidate for the 2009-2010 Division III Athlete of the Year, presented by Honda American Motor Co.
Cahoon made history when she was named the 2009 Nfinity/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) NCAA Division III National Player of the Year. Cahoon became the first libero in NCAA Division I, II or III to win this prestigious award.
Cahoon claimed AVCA NCAA Division III All-America first team honors for the second straight year and joins UW-Oshkosh's Amy Ward (1996) and UW-Whitewater's Allison Erickson (2001) as the only players in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference history to win the national player of the year award.
Cahoon led UW-Oshkosh with 928 digs and 50 service aces. She started all 41 matches she participated in and reached double-digits in digs in all but one match. She posted a career-high 40 digs in a four-set win over Christopher Newport University (Va.) in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Championship on Nov. 19.
With her 928 digs, Cahoon set a new NCAA Division III record for the number of digs in a season since the NCAA went to the current 25-point system. Cahoon becomes just the fourth player at UW-Oshkosh to be named to the first-team on two occasions.
Cahoon was also named to the All-WIAC and All-Midwest Region first-team and collected a spot on the four-person WIAC All-Defensive team. This is the second straight season she has claimed all three honors.
Cahoon anchored the Titans to a 39-3 record and an appearance in the Final Four of the NCAA Division III Championship. The Titans, who compiled a 29-match winning streak to start the season, won the 10th conference title in program history with a perfect 8-0 record. UW-Oshkosh's appearance in the Final Four was it first since the 1996 season and the undefeated WIAC mark was last equaled in 1990.
UW-Oshkosh reached the top spot in the national rankings for the first time in school history, holding the honor for six weeks during the 2009 campaign. The Titans have been ranked in the top-15 of the NCAA Division III poll every week since Sept. 27, 2005, a span of 56-weeks. The Titans finished the 2009 season as the third-ranked team in the country.
With one year of eligibility remaining, Cahoon needs only 163 digs to break the WIAC record for career digs and currently holds the top two spots in total digs in a season. She previously broke the 2006 record set by UW-Oshkosh's Samantha Schmidt last season with 833 and topped the standard again this season.
Cahoon finished the season by averaging 6.27 digs per set, good enough for 15th in the nation. As a team the Titans ended 32nd with 18.75 digs per set.
NCAA Division II and III athletes are nominated by national coaches associations for each of 11 sports; basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and volleyball.
The ballot listing 11 sport winners to determine The Division III Athlete of the Year will be broadcast to Division III NCAA-member schools the first week of June 2010. The votes will be tabulated with the final result announced at a press conference June 21, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.
The awards program is sponsored by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. and to celebrate these awards American Honda Motor Co., Inc. donates $1,000 to the women's athletic fund of each Honda Sports Award nominee's university and each Division II and III nominee's university. The Division II and III winner's institutions receive $5,000 each.