• Roster
• ▪
• Schedule / Results
• ▪
• News
• ▪
• Archives

Nov. 16, 2006

St. Louis, Mo. -

MVC All-Centennial Volleybal Team in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

The University of Northern Iowa had seven players, as well as the team's coach, on the Missouri Valley Conference's All-Centennial Volleyball team, as announced today by the conference office.

Panthers named to the team were Jill Arganbright (2000-03), Bobbi Becker Petersen (1986-89), Kara Galer (1992-95), Kate Galer (1993-96), Kim McCaffrey Davis (1997-2001), Molly O'Brien (2000-03) and Shannon Perry (1996-99). In addition, long-time UNI coach Iradge Ahrabi-Fard (1981-2000) was voted as the team's coach. With seven players on the 21-person team, UNI had the most members of any Valley school.

Each of UNI's honored players was named all-conference at least three times, with Arganbright and O'Brien four-time all-conference selections. Both Kara Galer and Perry were two-time MVC Player of the Year selections, while O'Brien is the league's only three-time Player of the Year. Ahrabi-Fard was named conference coach of the year seven times, as well as earning 1999 National Coach of the Year honors. He won 10 conference regular-season titles and guided the Panthers to the NCAA tournament eight times.

Although the Missouri Valley Conference did not sponsor women's athletics until 1992, many of the current MVC schools were members of the Gateway Conference from 1982 until 1991, and players from that era were included in the selection process. The team was selected through a combination of on-line fan voting and a centennial committee. A total of 1,881 votes were cast for volleyball. O'Brien was the leading vote getter of any player.

In 2006-07, the Missouri Valley Conference celebrates a century of excellence as the nation's second-oldest NCAA Division I conference begins its second centennial as a leader in college athletics. As part of the Centennial Celebration, the Valley is naming all-centennial teams for each of the conference's sponsored sports.