Frenchy Silva Class: Sophomore Hometown: Laguna Niguel, CA High School: Dana Hills Height: 5-4 Position: Libero/Defensive Specialist

Packs a punch in her relatively small frame ... boasts a powerful jump serve and has shown brilliant flashes of speed and athleticism on the court as a libero and defensive specialist ... has the quickness to cover a large chunk of the court ... energetic and plays with a lot of emotion ... adjusted well to the college game through her first season with the Irish.

AS A FRESHMAN (2008): One of two freshmen to start the season opener against IPFW (Aug. 29) ... took full advantage of the given opportunity by recording 12 digs and three assists ... six more assists and 14 digs came against Nevada (Aug. 30) ... had 21 digs - the first 20-dig effort by an Irish player since Adrianna Stasiuk posted an identical total at Connecticut (Oct. 27) in 2007 - and four assists versus in-state foe Valparaiso (Aug. 31) ... averaged 4.27 digs/set in four matches during the Shamrock Invitational (Aug. 29-31) ... that clip ranked fourth in the BIG EAST Conference and was the best among league rookies ... stabbed 18 digs in a four-set battle against Eastern Washington (Sept. 5) ... career-high three aces came versus No. 16 Cal Poly (Sept. 12) ... against No. 4 California (Sept. 13), filled the stat sheet with 12 digs, two aces, five assists and one kill ... went five matches without a reception error (Oct. 5-16) ... 12 digs at DePaul (Oct. 16) ... had 10 digs in three of her four final matches on the year ... six assists versus Xavier (Nov. 28) in the season finale ... second on the team with 239 total digs (2.54/set) and third with 51 assists ... tacked on a flawless serving pct. in nine matches ... appeared in 94 sets and 27 matches ... one of eight Irish players that helped win the Collegiate Beach Volleyball Challenge at Fiesta On Siesta Key team title.

THE SILVA FILE: Averaged 5.9 digs/set as a libero during her senior season at Dana Hills (Calif.) ... wrapped up her final prep year with a trio of 30+ dig efforts, including 37 in the season final against Newport Harbor ... The Orange County Register bestowed upon her its Athlete of the Week award after she posted 106 digs in the first three rounds of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division I-AA playoffs, as she totaled 346 digs over the course of the 2007 season ... South Coast League Female Athlete of the Year in 2007 ... nominee for the Orange County Female Athlete of the Year ... first team all-league performer in 2007 ... first team all-Orange County and second-team all-CIF I-AA as a senior ... since 2005, her club team (Laguna Beach) had only suffered three losses while posting 49 wins and a trio of top 10 finishes at the Junior Olympics heading into the 2008 club season ... played with Laguna Beach for eight years ... placed ninth in the 18 Open division at the Junior Olympics in 2008 ... the travel squad was third in the 2007 edition of the national event ... the team swept through the competition to net first place in the Southern California Volleyball Association tournament after her sophomore season ... invited to the USA A2 High Performance volleyball camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., during her first two prep seasons ... after training with the program as a sophomore she was named the "Best Passer" at the conclusion of the championship tournament ... her performance then prompted an invitation to train at the USA Holiday Volleyball Camp in Austin, Texas, as she was also extended that opportunity one season later ... on the track, she helped set three school records in relay events as a freshman - and proceeded to break two of those marks as a sophomore - then cracked the top 4x100 relay time during her junior season ... her 4x100 relay tandem was seventh in the CIF finals after racking an eighth-place finish in 2006 ... led Dana Hills to both league and Orange County titles in 2008 ... part of Dana Hills' Wall of Fame ... high school class valedictorian ... a staple on the Dana Hills honor roll throughout her high school career, garnering top honors from the school superintendent after each of her eight semesters as a prep ... daughter of Michael and Gina Silva ... father played football at Westminster College (Utah) ... has one brother, Giancarlo ... born June 9, 1990 ... enrolled in the College of Arts & Letters as an American studies major.

Silva's Career Statistics