UT’s Danielle Selkridge Tabbed SSC Female Athlete of the Year
ORLANDO, Fla. - University of Tampa volleyball standout Danielle Selkridge has been selected as the 2012-13 Sunshine State Conference Female Athlete of the Year.
Selkridge was chosen for the award in a vote conducted among athletic directors, senior woman administrators, athletics communications directors, and faculty athletics representatives from the SSC's nine member institutions.
A senior from Tortola, Virgin Islands, Selkridge capped an already impressive career with a brilliant season. She was named the National Player of the Year by both the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and Daktronics. Selkridge became the first player in the storied history of Tampa volleyball to achieve those distinctions.
A middle hitter, she averaged 3.7 kills and 0.97 blocks per set in 2012. The factor that particularly set Selkridge apart was her tremendous accuracy, as she led all NCAA Division II players with a .506 attack percentage. That mark was a UT single-season record, and she also concluded her career as the program's all-time leader in hitting percentage, boasting a .486 career clip.
Selkridge's efforts on the court earned SSC Player of the Year accolades for the second consecutive season. She was the driving force behind the Spartans winning their eighth straight SSC title with an unscathed 16-0 conference record. The conference championship was Tampa's 22nd overall.
She also powered Tampa to the championship match of the NCAA Division II Volleyball Championship, where the Spartans fell in five sets to six-time defending national champion Concordia. In the title match, Selkridge gave her all with a season-high 24 kills and four blocks. She hit .419 in the contest.
Selkridge finished a decorated senior campaign as a consensus first-team All-America and All-South Region selection. She was named SSC Offensive Player of the Week five times in 2012 and earned the AVCA's National Player of the Week award twice.
In addition to her efforts on the court, Selkridge was also an impressive student. She earned a spot on the 2012 Capital One Academic All-District Team and was a three-time member of the SSC Fall Commissioner's Honor Roll.
Selkridge is the third Tampa student-athlete to be recognized as the SSC's Female Athlete of the Year. Women's soccer goalkeeper Shannon Aitken won the award in 2007-08, while fellow volleyball player Danielle Faggion claimed the distinction in 1999-00.