Haas clan member (my niece) gets big honor.
Senior libero posted 3.83 gpa, set career record for digs for volleyball teamMike Murphy, SID 6/8/2009 4:09:02 PM
SEASIDE ‘“ Cal State San Bernardino senior volleyball libero Meghan Haas today was voted the California Collegiate Athletic Association’s Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for 2008-09.
Haas, a Menifee resident and former star at Chaparral High School in Temecula, has now added one more honor to her long list of accomplishments, including being nominated this year for the Honda/NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
She is the third CSUSB student-athlete to win the award since its inception in 1989-90. The others were soccer player Tara Fontana in 1997-98 and Amy Pope Schumacher, a volleyball setter in 2001-02.
The 6-foot Haas, who transferred to Cal State San Bernardino from NCAA Division I Louisiana Tech after her freshman year, developed into the most prolific libero in the history of the Coyotes’™ volleyball program.
Her 519 digs (4.68 per set) in 2008 now only helped the Coyotes win a third straight CCAA championship but also helped them win the NCAA West Regional tournament for the third time and advance to the NCAA Division II championship match.
She set a new career record for digs in just three seasons (1,566) and she holds four of the top five performances all-time in single match digs (highest was 37, No. 2 on the list), and the top three single-season dig records topped by her 554 digs in 2006.
On the court she earned all-CCAA first team; all-West Region first-team; and AVCA all-America honorable mention honors as well as Daktronics all-America third team and Daktronics all-West Region first team honors. She was also named to the West Region all-tournament team. She was co-captain or captain all three years.
While she was accomplishing all this she has maintained a cumulative grade point average of 3.83 in kinesiology and has been selected as the kinesiology department’s outstanding graduate in the Class of 2009.
Haas was voted to the honor by Faculty Athletic Representatives of the 11-member universities of the CCAA while meeting at Cal State Monterey Bay this week.
Beyond academics and athletics, Haas has been active in community service. She has been the vice president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council for the past two years. Haas has voluntarily participated in the Relay for Life all three years at CSUSB in addition to Read Across America, the CSUSB Disability Sports Festival, SAAC adopt-a-family program, helped coordinate fund-raisers for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Haas also found time to give back to younger volleyball players as a counselor at Coyote volleyball camps for youth and as head coach of a 15-and-under girls’™ volleyball club team.
Her parents are Jeff and Laurie Haas of Menifee.
