STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Dec. 18, 2002 - Penn State junior Cara Smith (Lafayette, Ind.) was named a second team All-America selection by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), it was announced today. The honor is the first of Smith's career and is Penn State's 35th overall AVCA All-America selection.

Smith garnered AVCA Mideast Region All-America recognition earlier this season in addition to being a unanimous All-Big Ten pick and an Academic All-Big Ten selection.

The junior has either been leading the nation or ranking second in hitting percentage all season and ended the 2002 campaign attacking at a .423 clip. That mark places her fourth on Penn State's single-season hitting percentage chart, behind All-Americans Lori Barberich (1981, .501), JoAnn Elwell (1990, .480) and Leanne Kling (1990, .436). Smith posted at least six kills and one block in every contest this season, including recording a career-high-tying 19 kills on three separate occasions. She was the only Nittany Lion to garner Big Ten Player of the Week honors, doing so the last weekend of the season after she led the Lions in sweeps of Big Ten Champion Minnesota and Iowa while hitting a combined .511 with 4.17 kills per game.

Joining Smith on the AVCA All-America second team are Minnesota's Cassie Busse and Wisconsin's Erin Byrd. Ohio State's Stacey Gordon was tabbed as a first team All-America selection while Minnesota's Paula Gentil and Wisconsin's Morgan Shields picked up third team honors.

A list of the 2002 AVCA All-America Selections follows:

 
First Team Name School Pos. Yr. Ht. Hometown Emily Adams Univ.of Southern California MB So. 6-5 Phoenix, Arizona Danielle Bauer UC Santa Barbara RS/Opp Sr. 5-11 Santa Ana, California Paige Benjamin University of Washington OH Sr. 5-11 Redmond, Washington Greichaly Cepero University of Nebraska S Sr. 6-2 Dorado, Puerto Rico Aury Cruz Universityof Florida OH Jr. 5-11 Levittown, Puerto Rico Stacey Gordon The Ohio State University OH So. 5-11 Oshawa, Ontario, Canada Amber Holmquist University of Nebraska MB Sr. 6-4 Houston, Texas Lily Kahumoku University of Hawai'i OH Jr. 6-2 Lubbock, Texas Sara McGee StanfordUniversity MB Jr. 6-3 Davis, California April Ross Univ.of Southern California OH Jr. 6-1 Newport Beach, California Logan Tom Stanford University OH Sr. 6-1 Salt Lake City, Utah Kim Willoughby University of Hawai'i OH Jr. 6-0 Napoleonville, Louisiana 
Second Team Name School Pos. Yr. Ht. Hometown Cassie Busse University of Minnesota RS/Opp Jr. 6-2 Prior Lake, Minnesota Erin Byrd University of Wisconsin OH Sr. 6-0 Glen Ellyn, Illinois Kim Glass University of Arizona OH Fr. 6-3 Lancaster, Pennsylvania Brittany Hochevar Long Beach State University S Sr. 6-0 Fowler, Colorado Jennifer Joines University of the Pacific MB Jr. 6-3 Milpitas, California Nicole McCray University of Florida MB Sr. 6-1 Longview, Texas Lynnette Moster Georgia Tech OH So. 5-10 Liberty, Indiana Ogonna Nnamani Stanford University OH So. 6-1 Normal, Illinois Laura Pilakowski University of Nebraska OH Sr. 6-1 Columbus, Nebraska Becky Potter Santa Clara University MB Jr. 6-0 Clovis, California Cara Smith Penn State University MB Jr. 6-0 Lafayette, Indiana Katie Wilkins Pepperdine University OH Jr. 6-4 Lakeside, California 
Third Team Name School Pos. Yr. Ht. Hometown Michelle Collier University of South Florida OH Sr. 5-9 Recife, Brazil Lauren Duggins University of Hawai'i MB Jr. 6-0 Fullerton, California Paula Gentil University of Minnesota Lib Fr. 5-9 Fortleaza CE, Brazil Laura Greene University of North Carolina OH Sr. 5-11 Yadkinville, North Carolina Benavia Jenkins University of Florida MB Jr. 6-0 Fort Pierce, Florida Mia Jerkov University of California OH So. 6-3 Split, Croatia Christy Myers University of Missouri MB Sr. 6-1 Raytown, Missouri Brooke Niles UC Santa Barbara S Sr. 5-9 Woodland Hills, California Molly O'Brien University of Northern Iowa MB Jr. 5-10 Parnell, Iowa Morgan Shields University of Wisconsin S Jr. 5-11 Watertown, Wisconsin Elisha Thomas Long Beach State University MB Sr. 6-3 Grass Valley, California Mira Topic University of Texas OH So. 6-3 Kastela Kambelovac, Croatia