Image: Michael Reese

UTEP volleyball head coach Ken Murphy announced the addition of defensive specialist Stephanie Figueroa to the 2010 roster on Monday morning.

“Stephanie comes into our program with maturity and she’ll bring experience and confidence to our young team,” Murphy said. “She’s going to help our serve and pass right away. She has really great mechanics that are similar to the way that our team trains.”

Figueroa comes to UTEP following a two-year stint at Iowa Western Community College where she aided the Reivers to a 42-6 record and conference and regional championships in 2009. Iowa Western reached the NJCAA Championships to finish sixth in the national tournament. The two-time all-region selection garnered NJCAA First Team All-America honors this past season.

The Dorado, Puerto Rico, native finished her career at Iowa Western as the all-time career leader in digs (1,691-two seasons) and ranked first in digs in a season with 945 in 2009. As a freshman, Figueroa posted a .960 reception percentage, the third-best all-time in Iowa Western history.

Figueroa was a two time gold medal winner at the USA Volleyball Junior Olympics (2002, 2003) and at the 2007 AUU in Orlando, Fla. She played under the direction of Carmelo Eleutiza and Javier Cruz. She is a three-time champion at the Puerto Rico National Beach Volleyball Championships (2006, 2007, 2008) and graduated high school in 2008 with honors and a 4.0 grade point average.

A member of the Phi-Theta Kappa Association, Figueroa plans on continuing her degree in Psychology at UTEP.