WVU Mountaineer Sports: Basketball | Football | News |Volleyball: Kramer Adds Five For 2012

West Virginia University volleyball coach Jill Kramer announces the signing of five student-athletes to the 2012 class.

Nikki Attea (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North), Monique Kemp (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Dade Christian), Kendall LaVine (Boulder, Colo./Fairview) and Anna Panagiotakopoulos (Phoenix, Ariz./Xavier College Preparatory) have all signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Mountaineers in the fall of 2012 while Brittany Sample (Lewisville, Texas/Hebron) has signed a Grant-in-Aid to join the Mountaineers in January 2012.

"We are very excited about the addition of five new members to our WVU Volleyball team. They come from Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and New York, but have one common goal – they want to be a part of building a nationally prominent volleyball program at West Virginia."

Attea is one of four finalists for New York Gatorade Player of the Year and was also named an AVCA Preseason all-American. A five sport athlete at Williamsville North, Attea has broken the single-season and career record in kills and blocks for volleyball as well as the single-season record in rebounds for basketball. The 6-foot-3 outside hitter led her team to the first ECIC Division Championship and first sectional championship in school history. For her efforts, Attea was named first team all-ECIC, first team all-Western New York and an all-State selection.

"Nikki will bring nice size and a great skill set as an outside hitter to our program as we enter the Big 12 Conference. She is experienced attacking from the left and right side, and is one of the premier volleyball players coming out of the state of New York this year." 

Kemp, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker comes to Morgantown from Dade Christian, where under the direction of coach Heidi Konchak, Kemp received honorable mention in 2008 and 2009 from The Miami Herald. Kemp garnered third team all-Dade County in 2010 and was named Athlete of the Week by The Miami Herald on Sept. 13, 2011.

"Mo comes from a great athletic family, as her father, Maurice, played college basketball and her brothers, Maurice Jr. and Ryan, currently play basketball in college. She is young in the sport of volleyball, but has a great work ethic. We can't wait to get her in the gym and start training."

LaVine will also add depth to the middle blocker position for the Mountaineers. The 6-foot-3 Boulder, Colo., native is captain of the varsity team for Fairview, was named most improved player in 2010 and earned the honor of Varsity Athlete of the Week for Fairview on Oct. 9, 2011.

"Kendall has a very positive attitude and is a very hard worker. She has good size and a great frame for volleyball. She's trained with Juggernaut Volleyball Club out of Colorado under some very well-respected coaches. She loves to train and is an outstanding teammate. Kendall is a great addition to our 2012 class." 

Panagiotakopoulos, a defensive specialist, comes from nationally-ranked Xavier College Preparatory where she helped lead the team to the 2010 Arizona High School State Volleyball 5A-1 Championship and was named Arizona 5A-1 all-region. Panagiotakopoulos is a 2011 AVCA all-American nominee and a member of the USA Volleyball Youth National Training team where her team won a bronze medal at the USAV High Performance Championships.

"Anna is a fireball. She is a fierce competitor, a gym rat, and has a contagious smile.  She makes people around her better. Anna has been a part of the USA High Performance pipeline for quite some time and has played prep volleyball at a very high level. She is relentless on defense and has a great attitude. Our fans will love watching her compete."

Sample will be the first player in WVU Volleyball history to join the Mountaineers in January 2012. A 5-foot-7 setter from Lewisville, Texas, Sample was named a Prepvolleyball.com High School all-American in 2010 and a Max Preps/AVCA Player of the Week in 2009 and 2010. Sample helped lead nationally-ranked Hebron to a Texas 5A Championship in 2010 while also being named to the 5A State all-Tournament team, the Lonestarvolleyball.com Outstanding Setter, and the District 8-5A Setter of the Year.

"Britt is going to do a great job of being our ‘quarterback', so to speak. She led her team to a state championship last year and we are looking forward to her leading WVU volleyball to great places. She has played for two very well respected club programs in her prep career – Alamo Volleyball Club and Texas Advantage Volleyball Club. Britt is graduating early and attending WVU this spring, so she can get a head start learning our system."