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New Jersey City University
junior middle blocker
Lizzelle Cintron became the
first Gothic Knight men’s or women’s volleyball player to ever be featured in
Sports Illustrated when she appeared in the
Faces in the Crowd section of
the magazine's November 13, 2006 issue. In doing so, she became the fifth NJCU
student-athlete on record to be featured in the magazine—all since
December 2000.
Cintron is a
five-time
AVCA/Sports Imports Division III National
Player of the Week, including twice this season. She has been named the
New
Jersey Athletic Conference Player of the Week 12 times in two seasons [NJCU
was independent in 2004], and is a 10-time ECAC Division III Player of the
Week. She has received NJCU Women’s Athlete of the Week honors 25 times in
her career.
She is a two-time AVCA Honorable Mention All-America and two-time First-Team
All-Mid Atlantic Region selection. A two-time NJAC Player of the Year, she
has also been named First-Team All-NJAC twice. She also was
selected to the
ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA
Academic All-America College Division District II Women’s Volleyball
Second-Team in 2005.
The all-time leader in the history of the NJAC in career kills with 2,248, Cintron currently ranks No.
7 in Division III history in winners, and could become only the second
player ever to reach the 3,000 plateau. She is only the third player in
Division III history with 2,000 kills and 1,500 digs. Her 846 kills in
2006 and 831 in 2004 rank fourth and fifth on the NCAA single-season
lists. She was the 2004 national statistical champion in kills per game at
6.87.
She led NJCU to the 2005 NJAC conference regular season and tournament
titles and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, and guided
the Gothic Knights to the 2006 ECAC Division III South championship. In
her three seasons at NJCU, the Knights are a collective
89-22, including 14-1 in the league, and are a perfect 32-0 at home.
Cintron
was selected to appear in
Sports Illustrated after
she was named the NJAC Player of the Week for a sixth time this season on
October 31. In that week alone, she tallied 109 points, and had 91 kills,
42 digs and 23 blocks in four matches, while eclipsing the 2,000
kill/1,500 dig plateau.
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