Two members of the Kirkwood volleyball program have been named to the NJCAA All-American Team for the 2012 season.

Sophomore setter Alexus Litts (Cedar Rapids, IA) brought home a first-team berth on the All-America Team after ranking second in the ICCAC and among the top 10 on the national front with a 9.61 assists-per-set average, good for fourth place on the Kirkwood all-time stat leaders. Named to the league's 1st Team All-Conference as well as Region XIB 1st Team, the 5-foot-10 Litts doled out 1576 assists during the campaign, fourth on the Eagles' all-time total assists leaders, she recorded three matches of 40 or more assists including a season-high 57 against Indian Hills. Her setting helped Kirkwood record a .220 hitting percentage, second in the ICCAC. Litts also averaged 1.0 kill/set, 2.51 digs and 0.46 blocks per set. Alexus was the Region XIB Tournament MVP and was selected for the National Championships All-Tournament team.

Sophomore middle Ashley Gonzalez (Camanche, IA) was tabbed as a second team All-American. The 5-11 foot Gonzalez stood second on the team with a 2.56 kills-per-set average while her .306 hitting percentage was first on the team. She came through with 19 matches of 10 or more terminations. A formidable defensive presence at the net, she averaged 0.82 blocks per set, second on the team and sixth on the league list. An all-tournament selection at the Region XIB tournament, she closed out her career on the Kirkwood all-time stat leaders as 10th in kill efficiency .306, 430 kills/958 attempts, also ranked #44 in NJCAA DII.

Kirkwood completed the 2012 seasons with a won-lost ledger of 40-9.

Perrysburg, Oh. - The Kirkwood volleyball team stayed alive in the elimination bracket of the NJCAA DII Volleyball Championship with a 3 set sweep of the eighth seeded Lincoln Land Loggers, who came in to the tournament with a national ranking of 7^th.

"That is a relief, our team wants to keep playing" Jill Williams said. "We started out the day talking about how we have a fresh start to a strong tournament finish. It wasn't necessarily the path that we wanted to take, but the good part of the path is that at least the end of it still has us placing at the national championships." 

Kirkwood used a balance offensive attack with good hitting performance to end Lincoln Land's season. Brittany Ambler had 13 kills - .433 kill efficiency, while Ashley Gonzalez and Courtney Busch had nine and seven kills apiece. Gonzalez hit a .667 and Busch a .412. Alicen Wintermote contributed five kills and 3 blocks. Setter Alexus Litts dished out 29 assists and lead the team in digs with 9.