February 01, 2006
Three Texas A&M volleyball signees have been named Mizuno/Volleyball High School All-Americans, announced in the February issue of Volleyball.
Outside hitters Sarah Ammerman (6?â„¢2?, Chaparral High School/Parker, Colo.) and Mary Batis (6?â„¢, Clark High School/San Antonio, Texas) were named to the first team, and outside hitter Jenny Banse (6?â„¢, Churchill High School/San Antonio) was selected to the second team.
Texas A&M ranks second to Penn State (4) for most players named to the Mizuno/Volleyball All-American first team. Florida, which had one recruit on the first team and two named to the second team, ties Texas A&M for second most players overall to be named All-American.
The honor is one of many Ammerman has received after leading Chaparral to a runner-up finish in its first state tournament appearance this past fall. She led all Colorado Class 5A players with 6.4 kills per game as a senior and was named the Player of the Year by the Rocky Mountain News and was named to the All-Colorado Team by both the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post. In addition, Ammerman was named the Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year and was a finalist for Prepvolleyball.com National Player of the Year.
Batis, who graduated early and is now enrolled at A&M, is making her second appearance on the Mizuno/Volleyball All-America team after being named to the second team in 2004. She is a three-time PrepVolleyball.com All-American, including 2003 when she was named the website?â„¢s National Sophomore of the Year.
Banse is a two-time Class 5A all-state selection by the Texas Girls Coaches Association and a four-time all-district selection at Churchill High School. As a junior, she received All-American honors from PrepVolleyball.com and was named the San Antonio Player of the Year by the San Antonio Express-News.
Banse is beginning her seventh year as a member of the highly successful Alamo Volleyball Association, and her teams have never finished lower than fifth place at Junior Olympics. She earned all-tournament honors after leading her team to the gold medal at the 2003 J.O. 15 Open Division. She was named to her second J.O. all-tournament team in 2004 after leading her team to a third-place finish for the third time.
Other Big 12 schools represented on the Mizuno/Volleyball All-American team are Nebraska and Texas, which each had one member on the first team and one on the second team, and Baylor with one player named to the second team.