Mellinger Named to SEC Community Service Team

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M senior outside hitter Tori Mellinger has been named to the SEC Volleyball Community Service Team, released today by the league office. The SEC selects Community Service Teams for all of its 20 sponsored sports, highlighting an athlete from each member institution in every sponsored sport who gives back to their community in superior service efforts.

Mellinger has been a stellar representative of the Aggie volleyball team both on and off the court throughout her four-year collegiate career. The team captain and Dallas native has represented the volleyball team as a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for four years and served one year as the committee's executive staff secretary. She has participated in numerous community service and campus activities as a member of Aggie Athletes Involved, including serving as a volunteer for the Aggies CAN annual food drive, the largest student-athlete run canned food drive in the nation. Mellinger has welcomed and assisted new and returning Aggies to campus every year on Residence Hall Move-In Day and volunteered at various festivals and clinics, including the Junior Aggies Club Fall Festival and at the Lincoln Center, where she helped introduce the sport of volleyball to children. Mellinger has assisted at the Nothing but Nets Festival in an effort to help eradicate malaria from the continent of Africa. She also served as a volunteer at the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony, Film on the Field, and Hard Hats for Little Heads, encouraging child safety and giving away free bicycle helmets.

In Texas A&M's inaugural season as a member of the SEC, Mellinger helped the Aggies (24-5, 16-4 SEC) close out the regular season on a nine-match winning streak to win the SEC Western Division and finish second overall to Florida. A&M received an at-large bid to the 2012 NCAA Volleyball Championship and will face North Carolina State in the first round, Thursday, Nov. 29 at Gregory Gym in Austin, Texas. The match against the Wolfpack (22-9) will begin at 4 p.m.

Others named to the 2012 volleyball service team are: Kayla Fitterer, senior, outside hitter, Alabama; Hayley Koop, junior, outside hitter, Arkansas; MacKenzy Harper, senior, defensive specialist, Auburn; Betsy Smith, senior, middle blocker, Florida; Nicole Choi, senior, libero/defensive specialist, Georgia; Jessi Greenberg, junior, defensive specialist, Kentucky; Madie Jones, senior, outside hitter, LSU; Whitney Craven, senior, outside hitter, Ole Miss; Chanelle Baker, senior, outside hitter, Mississippi State; Paige Wheeler, junior, libero, South Carolina; and Jasmine Brown, senior, defensive specialist, Tennessee.