LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the second straight year, the Salisbury University volleyball team placed two student-athletes
on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region 5 teams, as revealed by the organization on Wednesday. Middle blocker
Gwen Eustace secured her third consecutive All-Region First Team selection, while setter
Julie Altieri was recognized as an All-Region Honorable Mention.
Eustace and Altieri, who become the 28th and 29th All-Region picks in school history, were two of 20 honorees representing just nine schools on the Mid-Atlantic region's top squad. This marks the eighth time the Sea Gulls have produced multiple All-Region picks in one season.
Eustace (Sr. – Olney, Md.) becomes SU's first three-time All-Region First-Teamer since
Katie Stouffer from 2014-16, as well as its fifth player to make three AVCA All-Region teams of any kind. Her .510 hitting percentage is tops across all three NCAA divisions by over 40 points, while she also holds top-100 Division III marks in kills (403), total blocks (123), blocks per set (1.01), points (492), and points per set (4.03). Eustace recently garnered her third career First-Team All-Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) nod and made her second straight C2C All-Tournament Team.
Altieri (Jr. – Hillsborough, N.C.) continued cementing her name as one of the Sea Gulls' all-time great setters with her first career All-Region spotlight. With 1,004 assists thus far, she is just the fourth SU distributor to ever record multiple thousand-assist seasons. Altieri ranks top-50 nationally in assists and assists per set (9.21) on the way to earning her second straight First-Team All-C2C laurels and a C2C All-Tournament Team slot.
With Eustace and Altieri proving a lethal combination up the middle, Salisbury qualified for its record fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament by going 28-6 and advancing to the C2C Tournament championship game. The Sea Gulls will open play in the national bracket with a first-round tilt against Colorado College on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with affiliate membership in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (football, men's & women's swimming), Coastal Lacrosse Conference (men's lacrosse), State University of New York Athletic Conference (field hockey), and Colonial Women's Golf Conference (women's golf). With over 500 student-athletes in 23 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have won a combined 23 team national championships, 24 individual national championships, and 206 conference championships, and have produced 53 Academic All-Americans.
To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.
