Alona Cherkez Class: Senior Hometown: Crimea, Ukraine High School: Ostrovsky Height: 5-11 Position: Outside Hitter Birthdate: 05/20/1983 Major: Undeclared

On Cherkez: Candidate for All-Conference honors ... One of the strongest hitters in the BIG EAST Conference ... Impact player who is the most dynamic all-around athlete on the team ... Capable of helping the team in difficult situations ... Will be expected to play a major role on the team's offense once again.

Career Highlights: Current school record holder with 3.95 kills per game in her career ... Also ranks sixth in school history with 2.93 digs per game in her career ... After just two seasons is already within sight of 1,000 career kills, needing 146 more to reach the 1,000 plateau ... Has a chance to become just the seventh player in school history with at least 1,000 kills and digs.

2006: Chosen to BIG EAST weekly honor roll on October 2 and October 16 ... Played in all 31 matches and saw action in 111 games ... Led the team in kills (431), attack attempts (1,089), kills per game (3.88), digs (321), digs per game (2.89) and points (485.0) ... Led the team in kills 18 times and notched at least 10 kills in a match on 20 occasions ... Team leader in digs in 16 matches and tallied 12 double-doubles (kills-digs) ... Registered six matches with at least 20 kills, with a season-high 25 kills in a win over Miami (September 2) and a loss to Notre Dame (September 24) ... BIG EAST Academic All-Star.

2005: Chosen as the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week twice during the season (August 28 and September 12) and was also selected to the league's weekly honor roll on September 6 ... Named the Most Valuable Player at the Villanova Classic and to the all-tournament team at the Comcast Lobo tournament at New Mexico ... Played in all 32 matches and logged 105 games ... Led the team with 423 kills and averaged 4.03 kills per game, which ranks as the fifth-highest average in a season in program history ... Also led the Wildcats in digs (311) and averaged 2.96 digs per game ... Had five straight double-doubles (kills-digs) at one point in the season ... Posted 18 kills with a .571 attack percentage and 10 digs in a win over La Salle ... Had a season-high 23 kills with an attack percentage of .333 in a loss to Temple ... Recorded 23 digs in a victory over Delaware ... BIG EAST Academic All Star.

Before Villanova: One of the top outside hitters in Israel ... Played for the national team ... Was voted the top player at the 2001 national high school championships.

Personal: Born 5/20/83 in Ukraine ... Younger of two children of Larisa Cherkez ... Has an older brother Alex (32) ... Mother had 20 years of experience playing volleyball in Russia ... Major is undeclared.