Dargan becomes volleyball's first All-American honoree since 1989 Staff Reports, PurdueSports.com
Posted on Wednesday, December 14 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Boilermaker volleyball program has produced its first All-America honoree since 1989 as senior setter Renata Dargan garnered Honorable Mention accolades as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association on Wednesday.
Senior setter Renata Dargan garnered Honorable Mention All-America accolades from the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
Dargan, who was eligible for the accolades after being named to the All-Mideast Region team, is the first Purdue player to garner All-America honors since Debbie McDonald was so honored in 1989. McDonald earned second team honors from Russell Athletic and honorable mention honors from Volleyball Monthly/ASICS Tiger that year.
The All-America honor is the latest accolade for Dargan, who was named a unanimous first team All-Big Ten selection in 2005, after earning honorable mention honors as a sophomore and junior and being named to the all-freshman team. The three-time Big Ten Player of the Week dished out 12.61 assists per game in 2005, the third-best average in the Big Ten, while also adding 1.90 digs, 1.54 kills and 0.83 blocks per game to the team's totals. She registered her first career triple-double with 61 assists, 13 kills and 13 digs against No. 8 Wisconsin on Sept. 30. Dargan also recorded seven double-doubles, while leading the team in hitting percentage (.347), a clip that ranked fourth in the Big Ten. The New Lenox, Ill., native broke the school career record for assists on Sept. 7 and raised the mark to 5,871, making her the first Purdue player to eclipse the 5,000-assist milestone. Her assists tally ranks fifth on the Big Ten career list. Dargan also earned a spot among the career top 10 list for block assists (7th with 318) and finished her Purdue career just 10 blocks away from the top 10 in total blocks.
In 2005, Dargan became the 10th first team All-Big Ten selection in program history and the first first-team All-Mideast Region selection since McDonald was so honored in 1989.
All told in her four years at Purdue, Dargan tallied 39 career double-doubles and posted double-digit assists totals in all 129 of the matches in which she played. She posted double-digit digs in 31 matches, double-digit kills nine times and five-or-more blocks on 15 occasions. In total, she dished out 12.23 assists per game to go with 1.92 digs per game, 1.30 kills per game on a .272 hitting percentage, 130 aces and 352 blocks.
Dargan is the sixth Purdue player to garner All-America accolades. The other honorees are Jane Neff (1982), Joan King (1983), Annette Bauer (1983, 1984), Marianne Smith (1984, 1985) and McDonald (1987, 1988, 1989).
The Boilermakers wrapped up the season with a 25-9 overall record, capped by an appearance in the NCAA Sweet 16. The third-round appearance was the first for Purdue since 1982. The 25 wins marked the most for Purdue since 1985, while their 12-8 Big Ten mark was good for fifth-place, the team's best conference finish since 1990.
