La Cavera III named CVC Player of the Year

University of California, Santa Cruz outside hitter Salvatore La Cavera III has been selected as the first ever Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC) Player of the Year. La Cavera (Huntington Beach, Calif.), 6-1 junior outside hitter, was recently named to the CVC West All-Division team, averaging 4.18 kills per set and a .321 hitting percentage in West Division matches. In the CVC championship, a 3-0 sweep of Carthage, La Cavera led all players with 18 kills and had a .359 hitting percentage. He also added a service ace and seven digs for the Banana Slugs victory. His outstanding play landed him on the CVC All-Tournament team. La Cavera, a team captain and physics major, was also the CVC player of the week ending March 3, 2012. During the week, the first West Division Challenge Weekend, La Cavera had 47 kills in three matches. For the week, he averaged 4.7 kills per set, hit .409, had .95 blocks per set and averaged 5.35 points per set. 

For the season, La Cavera had 160 kills and a 3.62 kills per set average. He hit .203 and added 90 digs (2.05/dps), 25 total blocks (.57 bps) and 178.5 points which is a 4.1 points per set average.

UC Santa Cruz head coach Hollenbeck had nothing but praise for La Cavera. He is a corner stone of our program," Todd Hollenbeck said. "His leadership on and off the court has helped create our teams identity." 

UC Santa Cruz (16-6) and La Cavera continue postseason play as the Banana Slugs received the CVC's automatic bid to the first NCAAA Division III Championship. They will face Rivier College (26-8) Friday, April 27 at 5:30 p.m. at Springfield College's Blake Arena in Springfield, Mass.

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