Volleyball Earns Multiple Honors; Ferguson Coach of the Year

(l-r) Hartford's Kami Nethersole, Lindsay Ford, and Dionna Kirton have earned All-Conference honors.

Head Coach Don Ferguson has been named America East Coach of the Year.

A trio of Hawks volleyball players have earned All-Conference honors after the team's most successful conference season since 2003. Also among the recent honors awarded by the America East conference was the first-ever Coach of the Year honor for Head Coach Don Ferguson. The Hawks finished the 2010 season with an 8-21 overall record and a 3-9 mark in conference play, finishing sixth in the seven-team conference.

"To me, recognition from your peers is one of the highest compliments one can receive," said Ferguson. "I'm proud of our team's accomplishments this season and am thankful others recognized the hard work and effort our team put forth. I think this award is a reflection of the whole team's effort."

Senior Lindsay Ford highlighted the list with her first-ever postseason conference honor, named to the Second Team All-Conference. Ford captained the Hawks squad throughout the season, doing a spectacular job spreading the Hawks offense around, keeping opponents off guard. Her leadership led the Hawks to upset victories over Albany and Stony Brook, two teams that have won conference championships in recent years.

Ford finished her senior season with a career-high 977 assists, ending her four years with Hartford third all-time with 3,456 assists. Ford also set a career-high in individual match assists when she finished with 62 total in a five-set win over Navy at the Kristen Dickmann Memorial Tournament hosted by the Midshipmen. Ford also received All-Tournament honors at the same event.

Sophomore Kami Nethersole scored her second postseason honor when she was also named to the Second Team All-Conference. Nethersole was an All-Rookie honor following last season. She finished her sophomore campaign leading the team in hitting with 325 total kills, a career-best. She closed out the season hitting double figure kills in the last nine matches of the season. Nethersole also scored a career-high against Navy when she finished that match with 28 kills, the most for a Hawks player since November 2002.

Rounding out the individual player honors was freshman Dionna Kirton, who was named to the All-Rookie team, the second-straight year the Hawks have been represented on the All-Rookie team. Kirton finished her inaugural campaign third on the team with 215 kills, while she was second on the team defensively with 257 digs. Kirton was a three-time America East Rookie of the Week, including after smashing a career-high 20 kills against Providence.

Coach Ferguson completed his sixth season with the Hawks after leading the team to the most wins in conference play since 2003. The Hawks 3-9 overall conference record included victories over Albany and Stony Brook. The Albany Great Danes have won the conference championship four of the last six years, while Stony Brook finished the 2007 season first in the conference with an 11-1 overall record.