Sept. 26, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University Athletic Department announced today that student-athlete Annalisa Muratore has retired from volleyball competition due to lingering injuries and discomfort which have resulted in three surgical procedures over the past two seasons. The decision brings to an abrupt end a career which established Muratore as one of the top middle blockers in school history.
"We will miss Annalisa immensely, not only because of her contributions on the court, but more so we will miss her great personality and sense of humor off of the court," said Santa Clara head coach Jon Wallace.
Muratore leaves the program as its all-time career leader with 1.30 blocks per game and a hitting percentage of .374 over 162 games played. She also stands tied for ninth in block assists with 187, and 10th on the career list for kill average with 3.06 kills per game. Muratore holds the single-season program marks for hitting percentage (.384 in 2004) and block average (1.77 per game in 2004).
Muratore was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year and All-WCC Honorable Mention following her 2004 campaign in which she averaged 3.41 kills a game in addition to the aforementioned single-season marks she set for hitting percentage and block average. She also set the program's single-game mark for total blocks with 16 against San Francisco on October 15, 2004.
Despite battling injuries throughout the 2005 season, Muratore was still a driving force on the team's run to the Final Four, as she hit .500 with 16 kills and three blocks in Santa Clara's 3-1 second-round upset of defending champion Stanford, and followed that up with 13 kills at a .500 clip with two more blocks in the team's 3-1 victory over Pepperdine in the Round of 16.
"Annalisa had incredible vision along with what we on the team referred to as a 'Majic Stick' of an arm that allowed her to dominate matches," Wallace said. "Her performances against Stanford and Pepperdine in last year's NCAA Tournament, in particular, perfectly demonstrated the dominant athlete that Annalisa was for us."
