IUP volleyball coach Zach Shaver has added junior college transfer Hristina Denic, bringing to eight the total number of newcomers for the 2007 season.  Denic, an outside hitter, will have two years of eligibility at IUP.

Denic (pronounced Christina DEN-itch) played the past two seasons at Cottey College in Nevada, Mo., where she was an all-region performer both years, including a first team nod as a sophomore.  She helped lead her team to Top 50 national rankings both years.

Previously, Shaver signed Tessa Irwin (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove), Chelsey Kreinbrook (Dawson/Geibel Catholic), Emily Pany (Coplay/Allentown Central Catholic), Sandy Rambow (White Lake, Mich./Walled Lake Northern), Maddie Schulte (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson), Tessa Siewert (York/Central York) and Kristen Tunno (Seaford, Va./Grafton).

“I am proud that we have acquired a player of Hristina’s caliber for our program,” said Shaver.  “She brings great ball control skills and court awareness along with two years of college experience to the outside hitter position.”

Denic was a top scholar-athlete at Cottey, boasting a 3.89 cumulative grade point average, earning a spot on the Academic Top 10 all four semesters and gained admittance to the Phi Theta Kappa academic honor society, serving as vice president. 

She is a native of Serbia, but has spent the past three seasons in the United States, including her senior year of high school as an exchange student at Cherry Creek High School in Colorado.

“It was apparent right away that Hristina is a very dedicated student and athlete,” said Shaver.  “She recently graduate from Cottey with an associate of science degree and has already been admitted to the nursing program at IUP.  She is exactly the type of quality student-athlete we were searching for to complete our roster for 2007.”

Denic played club volleyball for seven years in her native Serbia and reached the A League, the highest level of play, for two years.  She helped her team reach the Top 5 in Serbia and also earned high school region player of the year honors before coming to the United States.

In her one year at Cherry Creek, Denic received math and chemistry awards and was a member of the Key Club, International Club, FCLA and Habitat for Humanity.

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