Rolander Named All-HCAC, Ludeman Freshman of the Year

GREENWOOD, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its 2010 award winners on Wednesday. Defiance College's Napoleon High duo of Marlea Rolander and Chelsea Ludeman took two of the 14 All-HCAC honors with Ludeman also being voted as the league's Freshman of the Year.  [All-HCAC Teams]

Rolander repeated as an All-HCAC performer after claiming the honor in 2009 as well. The junior middle blocker led all conference players with 127 total blocks and ranked second with a .310 hitting percentage. The Napoleon, Ohio product also set career highs with 270 kills and 3.0 points per set for the Yellow Jackets, while posting a .360 hitting percentage over DC's 14 victories.

Rolander was a force at the net all season, swatting at least two blocks in 28-of-31 matches during the 2010 campaign and logging at least five blocks in 13 contests. Rolander was equally impressive on the offensive side, surpassing the double-digit mark for kills in nine matches.

Ludeman joined Rolander as an All-HCAC selection, while also being selected to the HCAC All-Freshman Team and being named the HCAC Freshman of the Year. The rookie became the second Yellow Jacket to be touted as the league's top freshman in the past three years, after ranking fifth in the league with 323 kills. Ludeman led Defiance in kills and also paced the squad with 3.3 points per set, while ranking second with 86 blocks and third with 155 digs.

Ludeman's season highlights included positing four double-doubles, racking up at least 10 kills in 15 matches and leading Defiance with 4.4 points, 3.7 kills and 1.1 blocks per set over the final six matches of the season. Ludeman's finest showing came during that stretch in a 3-2 win over Bethany, in which she logged 24 kills, 17 digs and nine blocks for new career highs in all three statistics.

Rolander and Ludeman led Defiance in kills, blocks and points throughout the 2010 campaign and accounted for nearly half of the team's kills and total blocks on the year. The duo will join 12 other projected returning letterwinners for the 2011 campaign.