Sports News Southwest

Yuma, Arizona - Arizona Western College announced that AWC Volleyball player Marluci ‘Luci’ Toazzi has officially signed her letter of intent to attend the University of Houston and play volleyball for the Lady Cougars this coming fall. The announcement comes six months after Toazzi ended her Matador career by leading the Lady Matadors to the 9th straight Region I Championship Game.

To those in the know, it isn’t much of a surprise that Toazzi is heading to Houston, especially since the Cougars have had their eye on her potential even before she set foot on the AWC campus back in August of 2007. Both Toazzi and fellow Brazilian Ana Bauer-who came to the United States and AWC at the same time from their native country-were on the Lady Cougars’ radar when they signed with then-AWC Head Volleyball Coach Jason Smith at AWC. Toazzi’s incredible athleticism was apparent from her very first game as a freshman, and she continued to step up her game throughout her two years with the Lady Matadors. Despite fighting shin splints as a freshman-not to mention spending her first year learning the English language-Toazzi shined on the court, recording 5 double-double performances to go along with a 10-kill, 12-dig, 10-ace performance in late August 2007, and helping lead the Lady Mats to their 8th straight Region I title. The native of Ivoti, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, was among the ACCAC’s best in kills, hitting percentage and digs, and her .73 aces per game was tops in the conference in 2007. For her efforts, Toazzi finished 2nd in the voting for ACCAC Player of the Year (Matador teammate Patty Paniagua won the award), and was an easy selection for 1st Team All-Region I and 1st Team All-ACCAC.

If anyone didn’t know yet of her prowess by the start of her sophomore season, the NJCAA officially announced it this past August by naming Toazzi a 2nd Team NJCAA Preseason All-American. With Paniagua graduated and Bauer deciding to stay home in Brazil after her freshman season, that officially put a bullseye on Toazzi with opponents. It didn’t seem to matter, since Luci continued to flourish under new head coach Karen Glover, and narrowly missed being named ACCAC Player of the Year for the second year in a row, finishing 3rd in the balloting. ‘Luci’ led the Lady Matadors in most statistical categories from the beginning of the ’08 season to the end, and won the ACCAC Volleyball Player of the Week Award twice in 2008. She was one of the best in aces again, finishing 2nd in the ACCAC with .47 per game. She was also one of only two players in the league to hit over 4 kills per game (4.14 was the exact number). She also led the Lady Matadors in digs (3.56 per game), and was 2nd on the squad in blocks (61) and hitting percentage (.209). Once again, the coaches named her 1st Team All-Region I and 1st Team All-ACCAC for the second straight season.

Toazzi joins a Cougars’ program that went 20-12 in 2008, reaching the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament before falling to Tulane. Her new coach is the longest-tenured coach at the University of Houston: Bill Walton, who will begin his 24th year at the helm of the Lady Cougars’ program this coming fall.

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