SouthtownStar Athletes on Campus: Richie Zobak a rock on the ice for Plymouth State
By Mike Walsh For Sun-Times Media March 15, 2013 9:20PM
Evergreen Park native Richie Zobak (center) moves to block a puck for Plymouth State. | Supplied photo
Updated: April 18, 2013 6:32AM
Evergreen Park resident Richie Zobak was one of five Plymouth State hockey players named to the 2012-13 All-Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference First Team.
Zobak, who earned a first team berth for the fourth straight season, appeared in all 27 games this season for the Panthers. Zobak scored four goals and added 13 assists. He was fifth on the team in assists and eighth in total points (17) as the New Hampshire school finished 19-7-1 overall and 14-3-1 in conference.
Over his four years with the Panthers, Zobak skated in 105 games. He scored 19 goals and recorded 60 assists (79 points).
Huizinga nets honor
Lindenwood outside hitter Tim Huizinga (Lincoln-Way East) was named the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association’s Offensive Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 17.
Huizinga, a 6-foot-4 redshirt junior, was the first Lions player to receive the honor this season. He recorded 49 kills over the span of four victories for Lindenwood. The New Lenox native averaged 3.27 kills per set and recorded double-digit kills in all four matches.
In the Lions’ victory over Quincy, Huizinga recorded his first double-digit kill count for the season with 12. Throughout the week, Huizinga tallied 14 service aces, averaging just less than one per set. He also recorded a season-high nine digs vs. Carthage, the then-No. 4 team in Division III. Huizinga had 10 blocks during the week, including four block assists against Quincy.
Kudos for Kelly
Tinley Park resident and women’s volleyball player Erin Kelly (Marist) was awarded the St. Thomas Aquinas Award at Stonehill College (Easton, Mass.) for the second year in a row as a result of having the highest grade-point average on the team.
In addition, over the course of her career Kelly was selected to the Northeast-10 Conference’s Commissioner’s and Athletic Director’s Honor Rolls, as well as having received two NCAA Division II Athletic Directors Association’s Academic Achievement Awards, as well as one selection to the NE-10 Academic All-Conference Team.
On the court, Kelly was named to the Northeast-10 All-Conference Third Team this season. She concluded her career at Stonehill with 400 sets played, 19 kills, 525 assists, 174 service aces, 1,360 digs and four blocks (two solo).
