LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) released the All-Region awards Thursday and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference had six total players earn the recognition, including five who received First Team honors. Complete AVCA Release
Trinity University led all SCAC squads with four honorees, while Colorado College and University of St. Thomas had one selection each. This year marks the third-straight season the SCAC has had five First Team All-Region honorees.
Trinity’s Mackenzie Logan, Marisa Amarino, Brette Thornton and Maddie Fate and Colorado College’s Isabella Lipacis each received first-team nods.
St. Thomas’ Audrey Cataline earned honorable mention recognition.
Additionally, Trinity head coach Julie Jenkins was selected as the region’s Coach-of-the-Year for the second time in the last three years.
Logan collected the SCAC Player of the Year award and was honored as a First Team All-SCAC player this season. She leads the team with 320 kills heading into the regional tournament and is ranked in the top 50 in the country in kills/set (3.81).
Amarino is also a first time All-Region selection, though she garnered her fourth career All-SCAC honor this season. She was named to the All-SCAC First Team for the second straight year and was also voted the SCAC Setter of the Year. Amarino produced 624 assists this year for an average of 6.06 assists/set as a three-rotation setter.
Thornton earned First Team All-SCAC honors for the first time in her career and can now add First Team AVCA All-Region to her list of accolades. Thornton is among the national leaders in blocking and hitting percentage, ranking 16th with a .380 hitting percentage and 21st in total blocks at 111. She is also 49th in Division III with 1.02 blocks/set this season.
Fate was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American in 2022 and has been named to the First Team All-Region for the second consecutive season. She is also a two-time All-SCAC selection who earned First Team honors for the first time this season. Fate enters the weekend ranked seventh nationally in hitting percentage (.409), ninth in total blocks (122), and 16th in blocks/set.
Lipacis is making her second-straight appearance on the AVCA First Team All-Region Region 10 squad. A three-time First Team All-SCAC honoree, Lipacis finished the year third in the SCAC averaging 3.42 kills per set and, despite playing just 79 total sets, finished 10th in the league with 270 kills.
Rounding out the list of SCAC student-athletes on the AVCA All-Region 10 squad is sophomore outside hitter Audrey Cataline of St. Thomas who earned Honorable Mention honors. Cataline, a First Team All-SCAC performer, leads the SCAC in total kills with 392 and is second in the league averaging 3.50 kills per set.
Head Coach Julie Jenkins led the 11th-ranked Tigers to the SCAC regular season title and the program's 14th conference tournament title. Her 2023 squad heads into the regional this weekend having won 24 of its last 25 matches as the Tigers look to make another deep postseason run to duplicate last year’s appearance in the 2022 NCAA final. Among the many highlights of this year’s campaign, Jenkins became the first coach in SCAC history to accumulate 400 conference wins in any sport when Trinity defeated Schreiner 3-0 on November 2.