Feb. 12, 2008

San Juan, Puerto Rico - Former IPFW men's volleyball star, and 2006 Hall of Fame inductee, Hector Soto has been named Athlete of the Year.

Soto, the stellar member of the Volleyball Men's National Team, was elected as "Athlete of the Year" for second consecutive time and will be the recipient of the ASES Award presented by the Sport's Museum of Puerto Rico.

Soto received 48-percent of the vote of a poll conducted by "Primera Hora" daily newspaper.

Soto enjoyed a dream year in 2007 winning three titles as best scorer in the Rio de Janeiro Pan American Games, the NORCECA Continental Championship in Anaheim, California and in the World Cup in Japan.

The performance of Soto, who in 2007 played in Japan and Russia, enabled Puerto Rico to improve to an eighth place of the Men's FIVB World Ranking.

Soto also was selected by the Puerto Rican National Volleyball Federation as "2007 Athlete of the Year" for second year in a row, and he will be attending the Gala Award of the Puerto Rican Olympic Committee.

~Dons~