New Jersey City University

JERSEY CITY, NJ…New Jersey City University junior middle blocker LIZZELLE CINTRON (Newark, NJ/Elizabeth) of the Gothic Knight women's volleyball team has been acknowledged as the 2007 New Jersey Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year for the 2006-07 academic year, in a vote of the league's 20-member Board of Athletic Administrators. Cintron is the first women's volleyball player in the history of the NJAC to receive the top conference female honor, and only the second Gothic Knight to ever achieve that distinction, joining Diana Lawson (Union, NJ), who claimed the award in 2003-04.

 

Cintron's award was announced when she was honored as part of The Eighth Annual NJAC Awards Brunch at the Hyatt Regency in Princeton, NJ on June 3.

 

Simply put, Cintron is one of the most accomplished volleyball players in the history of Division III. Already the all-time leader in kills in the history of the New Jersey Athletic Conference with 2,248 in only three seasons, she ranks seventh in Division III history in kills and can become only the second player in D-III history with 3,000 kills. This year, she became only the third player in Division III history with more than 2,000 career kills and 1,500 digs.

 

A two-time Honorable Mention All-America and two-time NCAA Division III First-Team All-Mid-Atlantic Region selection by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, Cintron is the reigning two-time NJAC Player of the Year and a two-time First-Team All-NJAC pick, after NJCU did not compete in the conference during her freshman campaign. She was a seven-time NJAC Player of the Week selection in 11 weeks during 2007 season and has earned the honor 12 times in two years.

 

Cintron was a two-time AVCA Division III National Player of the Week during the 2007 season and has received the award five times in three years. Additionally, she was a two-time Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Player of the Week in 2007 and has scored that honor 10 times in three years. She has been named the NJCU Women's Athlete of the Week 25 times in three years.

 

Cintron won her second career NCAA Division III national statistical championship this year, leading the country in hitting percentage at .496. Her efforts helped NJCU lead the nation in hitting percentage as a team with a .338 rate. In 2005, she was the national leader in kills per game.

 

In the final 2007 NCAA statistics, Cintron also led the nation in total kills (846), was second in total attacks (1372), fourth in kills per game (5.64), sixth in total blocks (206), and 31^st in blocks per game (1.37).

 

She set a single-season school record with 846 kill—fourth best in Division III history—by breaking her own single-season record of 831, which is fifth on the NCAA single-season charts.

 

Her individual efforts continue to parlay into unprecedented team accomplishments for an NJAC-affiliated Gothic Knight women's program. After guiding NJCU to its first NJAC women's championship in any sport in 2005, she led NJCU to a 33-8 record and the 2006 ECAC Division III South Championship. The tournament's No. 1 seed, NJCU became only the second team in NJAC history to win the ECAC tournament championship.

 

Cintron led NJCU to its first regional ranking in school history at No. 6, in a region that included national champion Juniata College. The 33 wins are an NJCU single-season record for most victories by any athletics team that competes in fewer than 50 matches. The Gothic Knights also extended their remarkable home-court streak to 32 consecutive wins. NJCU is 32-0 at home in Cintron's career.

 

During the season, Cintron was voted the Most Valuable Player of the ECAC Division III South Tournament and MVP of both the Devils Classic at FDU-Florham and the 13^th Annual Gothic Knight Invitational. She was named to the All-Tournament Teams at the Johns Hopkins University Invitational, Gettysburg Battlefield Classic, University of Scranton Invitational, Brewer Invitational at Vassar College, Devils Classic and Gothic Knight Invitational.

 

During the course of the season, she appeared in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd on November 13 and was featured on News 12 New Jersey Television.

 

In the final NJAC statistical report of the 2006 season, Cintron led the NJAC in hitting percentage at .496 in a category where no other player hit above .303. She also led the NJAC in total kills (846) and kills per game (5.64), and had 276 more kills than anyone else in the league. She had more kills by herself this season (846) than two schools in the conference had as a team—Rowan (665) and Rutgers-Camden (749). She also led the conference in total points (1062.0), points per game (7.08), total blocks (206.0) and assisted blocks (124), listed second in blocks per game (1.37), fourth in solo blocks (82), and sixth in total service aces (72).

               

In a three-year career that has spanned 384 games and 109 matches, Cintron has 2,248 kills, 2,820.5 points, 1,590 digs, 523 total blocks, 268 solo blocks, 255 assisted blocks and 177 service aces, and owns an eye-popping .442 hitting percentage (2248-488-3982). She has averaged 7.35 points, 5.85 kills, 4.14 digs, 1.36 blocks, and 0.46 aces per game in her career. She is NJCU's all-time leader in each of the aforementioned categories except digs (second) and aces (seventh).

 

A member of NJCU's Student-Athlete Advisory Board, she was elected as one of three student leaders that represented NJCU in Pittsburgh, PA as part of the NCAA's Champs/Life Skills Workshop.