The Kentucky volleyball team has added another player to its 2006 roster, this time Ohio State transfer Nicole Britenriker, a middle blocker from the Cincinnati area. Britenriker will be a junior in the fall and will have two years of eligibility remaining. NCAA rules for volleyball allow players a one-time transfer that permits them to play without having to sit out a season.
?Nicole is a big-time player with a big-time resume,? UK coach Craig Skinner said. ?We are excited to have such an experienced player at the highest level as a part of our program. She is a dynamic athlete who is looking forward to helping us compete for an SEC championship.?
Britenriker played in 31 matches for the Buckeyes in 2005, earning 26 starts. She ranked seventh in the Big Ten in hitting percentage with a .330 mark and tallied a career-best 18 kills against Illinois. She also hit a career-best .625 vs. Marshall during the year and had 25 digs at Indiana, also a personal high.
As a freshman in 2004, Britenriker saw action in 22 matches with just one start. Prior to her time at Ohio State, the 5-11 Mason High School graduate was a member of the US Youth National Team. She was slected to the USA High Performance team in 1999 and 2000 and was selected as one of 12 in the country for the USA Youth National Team in 2001. She also played on the USA Youth National team that competed at the 2003 World Championships in Poland and was a member of the 2004 US Junior National Team.
At Mason High School, Britenriker was named first-team All-State as a senior in 2003 and was named the city Co-Player of the Year. She was the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Player of the Year as a senior and a junior. Britenriker played her first two years of high school volleyball at East Lake High School in Tarpon Springs, Fla. There she was named Florida Class 5A first-team All-State as a sophomore in 2001, while advancing to the state semifinals. She also earned all-tournament team honorsAll-Suncoast Team honors all-count and was the Pinellas County Player of the Year in 2001.
Among her club accomplishments with Team Z, Britenriker was named a PrepVolleyball.com All-American, while helping her team to two Junior Olympic National Team championships. She was a two-time Junior Olympic All-American.
Britenriker plans to study communications at Kentucky. She joins fellow newcomers Heather Hausfeld (Cincinnati, Ohio), Natalie Marsh (Cincinnati, Ohio), Sarah Rumely (New Palestine, Ind.) and BriAnne Sauer (Louisville, Ky.) on the 2006 Kentucky roster.
