Seniors Audra Gentry and Ricky Jones received the 2010 Dr. Carla Lowry and Dr. Texas Kassen Awards which denotes the top female and male student-athletes at Southwestern University for the given school year.
Gentry, an outside hitter from Albuquerque, NM, helped the Pirates to four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament (2006-2009), one SCAC Championship (2009) and a record 33 match win streak in 2009. She was the kills leader for the Pirates in three seasons, hitting 3.25/game in 2007, 3.48/game in 2008 and 3.82 in 2009.
Gentry was a two-time AVCA All-South Region 1st team (2008, 2009), AVCA DIII All-America Third Team 2008, AVCA Second Team All-American 2009, All-SCAC Third Team 2007 and SCAC Player-of-the-Year 2008 and 2009 after leading the conference in kills.
Jones had a breakout season his final year, leading the Pirate men’s golf team to their first SCAC Co-Championship after tying with Centre at the Championships. Jones finished second overall after a final round two-under-par 70 and was just seven strokes behind the leader. For his efforts he was named to the All-SCAC First Team 2010.
Drs. Kassen and Lowry are former Directors of Athletics who were advocates for all student-athletes. They expected excellence from all student-athletes who participated wearing the Southwestern uniform. They had great respect for those who worked hard, were exceptional performers and those that exemplified great sportsmanship.
Gentry and Jones received their awards and were honored at the Pirate volleyball match on Friday night.