Francescatto named CAA Athlete of the Week

Senior outside hitter Ludmila Francescatto was named volleyball Colonial Athletic Association Athlete of the Week last week.

Hailing from Fraiburga, Brazil, Francescatto has posted 88 kills, 57 digs, 13 blocks, and 6 service aces, hitting .299 for the Rams this season.

She took double-doubles in three matches and made 101.5 of the 355 points VCU has earned in the six games the lady Rams have played.

As a junior, Francescatto made First-Team All CAA selection, which was a first for the Rams in six years.

After transferring from Arizona Western College, her first game playing for VCU ended with 20 kills, 17 digs, 5 aces, 3 blocks, and hitting .459.

Later in the season, she was the conference MVP in the CAA tournament, made the VCU Invitational All-tournament team, and raked in 417 kills, leading the team with 505 points, for the season.

She made the team-high and second in the CAA with 54 aces and an average of 3.10 digs per game.

She recorded 20 double-doubles for the season, including one set which was in the CAA championship game against Towson University where she took 26 kills, 15 digs, and hit at .407.

During her freshman and sophomore years at Arizona Western, Francescatto was named Player of the year twice by the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference and tallied up numerous other conference awards.

Francescatto transferred to the VCU molecular biology department “because the coach cares about our academics as much as our athletic abilities,” she said in an interview.

As for her expecting to receive the CAA Athlete of the Week she said, “I didn’t expect it. In this past pre-season, I worked very hard on improving my blocking.”

She recorded eight blocks in her last game, showing improvement over her previous games.

Francescatto said, “We are going to play our best this year. Last year everyone was new. Now this year, we know each other and know how each other play. We are improving with every game. We want to go further, to the Final Four if possible. We have set many goals for this year.”

She describes her time at as a collegiate athlete as a lot of dedication and hard work. She said, “A lot of people shouldn’t stereotype athletes, being an athlete while going to college takes a lot.”

This will be the last year Francescatto will be eligible to play but she will be graduating in the spring of 2008. She plans to remain on the team as an assistant coach next year, afterwards going on to get her masters in research biology.