The first round of fall season accolades rolled in yesterday, and the Jumbos picked up All-NESCAC selections in field hockey and volleyball.
Just as the Jumbos were taking the field for what would be a resounding first-round NCAA win last night, the NESCAC released All-Conference field hockey selections. Tufts placed multiple players on the First Team for the first time since 2000, as senior Ileana Casellas-Katz and junior Brittany Holiday both made the list.
Casellas-Katz moved up from her Second-Team selection last year. The center forward, who entered this season with 13 career goals, tacked on three goals and an assist yesterday, upping her season totals to 18 goals and 41 points and padding her single-season record in both categories.
Holiday joined Casellas-Katz on the First Team after posting career highs in points (18), goals (8) and assists (8). The midfielder used her speed and still skills as an inner on the team's new lineup this year, and also converted on both her penalty stroke attempts this season. This was Holiday's first All-NESCAC selection.
Sophomore defender Margi Scholtes earned a Second Team selection after ranking second in the NESCAC and first on the team with 11 assists. Scholtes, who did not register a point during her rookie campaign last year, has started all 17 games for the Jumbos this season, taking over the on-field role vacated by the graduation of All-American center midfielder Stacey Watkins.
For the ninth consecutive season, the volleyball team placed at least one individual on the First Team, with senior captain Katie Wysham earning the honor this year. A Second Team selection last season, Wysham established herself as one of the nation's best blockers in 2007, battling a shoulder injury to post 1.59 blocks per game, good for sixth in Div. III.
Her 153 total blocks were far and away the most in the NESCAC, besting Middlebury freshman Whitney Bean by 49. On Tuesday, Wysham was also named to the New England Women's Volleyball Association Second Team.
-by Sapna Bansil
