Xitlali Herrera

Classroom

Herrera has a cumulative grade point average of 3.81. She is a two time C-USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll recipient and is the fourth Miner in program history to earn C-USA All-Academic honors. She also received 2012 C-USA Commissioner’s Academic Medalist honors.

Character

Herrera is one of the team captains and is the stabilizer for the team. She is one of the only individuals in college volleyball that is a middle blocker and plays all-six rotations for the Miners. Herrera has only played two season for the Miners, but has dominated the competition and landed several spots in the recordbooks.

Community

Herrera helped guide the volleyball team to total 406 community service hours last season earning the squad the 2012-13 UTEP Community Service award. Herrera compiled 19.5 service hours, volunteering at the SAAC Hunger Drive, Child Crisis Center, Boys & Girls Club and the SAAC Fundraiser. She offered her time to help the school collect non-perishable food items to feed the homeless. She also participated in sports clinics for children, where student-athletes interacted and played with participants.

Competition

Herrera became the second Miner in program history to earn a spot in the AVCA All-American Honorable Mention team and be named to the AVCA All-Midwest Region first team. In only her second season with the Miners she received her second consecutive All-Conference USA first team honor as the only middle blocker in the league to play all-six rotations. She started in all 29 matches and led the team in hitting percentage (.300) guiding UTEP to rank No. 62 in the nation and first in the conference with a .236 hitting efficiency. Rated second on the squad in kills (333), digs (290), blocks (101) and aces (20). During the 2012 season, registered 10 double-doubles, including an impressive 17 kills and 15 digs versus Tulsa (10/12) where she led the squad’s defense and offense. Herrera matched her career-high of 20 kills against Arkansas (9/8) recording a hitting percentage of .485. She commanded the Miners frontcourt and directed them to rank 70th nationally and second in the league in blocks per set (2.36). She earned three spots in the UTEP recordbook for hitting percentage in three sets against UAB (.647-4th), hitting percentage in four sets versus SMU (.556-3rd) and in four sets against Southern Miss (.542-4th). Totaled 10 or more kills in 19 matches and 10 or more digs in 15 matches during the 2012 campaign.