VOLLEYBALL'S BURKE AND HOYUM EACH RECEIVE ALL-CONFERENCE ACCOLADES

11/27/2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State senior setter Rose Burke and junior outside hitter Desiree Hoyum were each named honorable mention all-Big Sky Conference, it was announced by the league office today.

Burke and Hoyum are two of three Sacramento State players to start every match this season and helped lead the Hornets to their 13th consecutive Big Sky Tournament appearance. The top six teams in the nine-member league advance to the postseason event, which begins tomorrow in Portland, Ore., and Sacramento State has now qualified every year since joining the Big Sky in 1996.

Burke, who received second team honors last season, finished the regular season with averages 9.20 assists, 2.52 digs, 0.53 blocks, and 0.59 kills per set while hitting .257. The fourth-year senior, who is tied for second in the Big Sky with 14 double-doubles, is sixth in the league in assists and has posted double figures in digs on 14 occasions. Among team leaders, she ranks first (among regulars) in hitting percentage and assists, second in service aces (24), and third in both digs and blocks.

A native of Gainesville, Fla., Burke has compiled 4,257 career assists during her four years with the Hornets, which rank as the fifth best mark in school history. When she starts at setter in tomorrow’s Big Sky Tournament quarterfinal match against Northern Colorado, Burke will be playing in her 107th consecutive match dating back to her freshman season (2005).

In her third season with the Hornets, Hoyum received all-conference honors for the first time. The junior from Anderson, Calif., has posted career highs in virtually every statistical category, and is currently averaging 2.90 kills, 2.79 digs and 0.38 blocks per set. Hoyum’s average of 3.41 kills per set against Big Sky competition is the fifth best mark in the league. In addition, she has been one of the team’s two primary passers all season long.

After going without a double-double the first 13 matches of the season, Hoyum has 12 in her last 19 matches. Those 12 double-doubles are tied for the fourth best mark in the Big Sky. She compiled a career-high 21 kills this past week against Eastern Washington, and has posted double figures in kills 15 times in her last 19 matches.

Sacramento State (10-22, 8-8) is the No. 6 seed at the single-elimination Big Sky Tournament, and will take on No. 3 seed Northern Colorado tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m. Should the Hornets win that match, they would face No. 2 seed and tournament host Portland State tomorrow evening at 7:30 a.m.

Sacramento State, which lost five starters from last year’s team, has won each of the last six Big Sky Tournament championships. In fact, the team has won either the league’s regular season and/or tournament championships 11 consecutive years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament 10 times during that span. This season marks the first time ever the program did not receive a first team or second team all-Big Sky accolade.