Vicky Braegelmann capped off her impressive volleyball career for the University of Minnesota Duluth by earning her second consecutive Division II American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year accolade on Wednesday (Nov. 28.)

Braegelmann becomes just the third back-to-back winner of the award at the Div. II level, as she shared the honor with Li YiZhi of Lock Haven University a year ago.

"I think this is a great honor and I'm a little shocked I won it this year to be honest," said Braegelmann. "This is a great way to top off my playing career."

"I had a good career and I wish I could keep playing but I'm happy with the way it ended," said Braegelmann.

The senior right side hitter is the only female in Bulldog history to ever receive such an honor as well as the only NCAA II athlete from UMD to be named national player of the year in any sport.

Braegelmann joins the four Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners (most outstanding player in men's NCAA I hockey) in the select group of UMD national player of the year honorees.

Braegelmann, a native of Albany, Minn., was dominant on the court all season long as she led the Bulldogs to 29-2 overall record. UMD was ranked in the top four in the CSTV/AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll all season, including two weeks as the top team in the country.

In her four seasons in a Bulldog uniform, UMD went 114-16, for an outstanding .877 winning percentage, including two trips to the national semifinals (2004 and 2006).

UMD went undefeated with a 12-0 record in the North Central Conference for the second consecutive season. Braegelmann helped lead the Bulldogs to four straight NCC crowns in just four seasons of league membership. She was named the NCC Player of the Year for third time this season becoming the first player in league history to accomplish that feat.

Braegelmann led the conference in kills per game, and was second in hitting percentage and points per game. She closed out her career as the leader at UMD in kills and hitting percentage, and she ranked among the nation's best in both of those categories this season.

In addition to being named AVCA Division II National Player of the Year for the second year in a row, Braegelmann is a four-time AVCA First-Team All-American, only the second player to earn four first-team accolades in the 27-year history of the AVCA Division II All-America program. Portland State University's Lynda Johnson was the first, garnering first-team honors from 1982-1985.

North Central Conference student-athletes have now been named the AVCA National Player of the Year in five of the last eight years.

The formal presentation of the 2007 AVCA Division II National Player of the Year will be made Dec. 14 in Sacramento, Calif., at the AVCA All-America/Players of the Year Banquet. The banquet, which will take place at the Sacramento Convention Center, is held in conjunction with the 2007 AVCA Annual Convention.

-- courtesy UMD Sports Information