Nov. 15, 2002

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina junior middle blocker Sara Komosinski was named to the Verizon Academic All-District III volleyball team today. The Muskegon, Mich., native was selected to the third team as she sports a 3.56 GPA in Sociology and Communication. This is the first time she has received this honor.

A co-captain on WCU's volleyball team, Komosinski has proved to be a valuable asset to the Catamounts both on and off the court. So far this season, she has compiled 382 kills to lead the team and rank fourth in the Southern Conference, posting a career-high 25 kills at UNC Asheville on Oct. 22. She also surpassed 1,000 career kills on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at Chattanooga and now has 1,075 total career kills as a junior.

Komosinski has posted 323 digs on the season, needing just 239 more to break into WCU's top five for career digs, with one year left to play. She also has 105 blocks for the year to lead the team and rank fifth in the league, posting a season-high nine blocks at UTC. She has 331 career blocks, which already ranks her third on WCU's top all-time list in the category. Komosinski has posted a .337 season hitting percentage as of today, with a season-high .581 coming in the match at UNC Greensboro on Oct. 26.

In the classroom, Komosinski has been a consistently strong student and has helped the Cats to back-to-back seasons being ranked nationally by the American Volleyball Coaches Association academically, ranking 16th in the nation in 2001 with a team cumulative GPA of 3.44 to top all SoCon schools.

Some of Komosinski's other achievements include being named to the SoCon honor roll twice, as well as to the WCU honor roll and Dean's List. She was named the team's "Most Improved Player" in 2000 and the "Most Inspirational" and "Hardest Working Cat" on last year's squad. She has earned SoCon Player of the Week honors twice in her career and was recently named the Arby's/Catamount Female Student Athlete of the Month in October. Komosinski also volunteers at the local Community Table and has participated in the local highway cleanup programs as well as a Special Olympics volunteer.

Komosinski and the rest of the Catamount volleyball team travel to Charleston in their final regular-season matchups of the year. They are set to face The Citadel this Saturday at 6 pm and then on to the College of Charleston Sunday for a 2 pm start. The SoCon Championships begin on Thursday, Nov. 21 in Davidson, N.C.