LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – In exclusive
all-conference voting by the head coaches of the Southern
Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), Abbe Holtz of Colorado
College was selected SCAC Player-of-the-Year while Southwestern
University head coach Hannah Long and Trinity University head coach
Julie Jenkins were named SCAC
Co-Coaches-of-the-Year. Complete Release
In the same balloting, Megan Lee of Texas Lutheran
University was selected the SCAC Backrow Player-of-the-Year for the
second consecutive year, and Sarah Baker of Colorado College was
named SCAC Freshman-of-the-Year.
A sophomore outside hitter from Manhattan Beach, Calif., and a
third team All-America selection a year ago, Abbe Holtz has been a
solid all-around player for the Tigers all season – playing
both the front and back row. Heading into this weekend’s
conference tournament, Holtz leads the league in both total kills
(444) and kills per set (3.81) as well as points per set (4.3) and
is second in the conference in total points 490.5. She is second on
the team in digs (401), which ranks 10th in the conference. A
two-time SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week honoree in 2014, Holtz
led the team in kills 22 times, blocks six times and digs three
times while posting 19 double-doubles over the course of the
season. She had a career-high 22 kills against No. 22 Nebraska
Wesleyan on Oct. 4 and grabbed a career-high 30 digs at Texas
Lutheran on Oct. 25. Since the school joined the conference prior
to the 2007 season, Holtz is just the second player from Colorado
College to be named SCAC Player-of-the-Year.
Holtz received two first-place votes in the weighted All-SCAC
voting process. Trinity’s Maggie Emodi actually earned the
most first-place votes with four while her teammate, Erin
Cusenbary, also received two votes.
For the second consecutive year, Megan Lee, a senior libero from
Universal City, Texas, was selected the league’s Backrow
Player-of-the-Year. Since the award was established prior to
the 2004 season, Lee is just the third player to win the award in
back-to-back seasons and the first since Samantha Lingamfelter of
Southwestern earned the honor three straight seasons from 2007 to
2009. One of the best defensive liberos in the country and the
backbone of the TLU team, she currently leads the SCAC in both digs
(720) and digs per set (6.49) and is fourth and fifth,
respectively, in the nation in those categories. Lee was a two-time
SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week selection (Week 1, Week 3) during
the regular season.
In a tightly contested vote, Lee received three votes from the
coaches in earning the Backrow Player-of-the-Year award. Sophie
Merrifield of Colorado College and Kaitlyn Foster of Southwestern
received two votes each and Jessie Koster of the University of
Dallas received one vote.
Barker, a first-year setter from Boise, Idaho, has done a great job
of directing the Colorado College offense throughout the 2014
season as the Tigers bounced between running a 5-1 and a 6-2
scheme. She is currently third in the SCAC in assists (750) and
fourth in assists per set (6.88) and helped lead the team to a .217
hitting percentage during the regular season – which is
currently ranked second in the conference. Barker is the third
consecutive Colorado College player to earn Freshman-of-the-Year
honors – joining Emily Phillips (2012) and current teammate
and this year’s SCAC Player-of-the-Year Abbe Holtze (2013) as
recent Tigers to win the award.
Barker received four votes from the coaches for the
Freshman-of-the-Year award, followed closely by Kate Mitchell of
Southwestern who received three votes. Kirby Smith of Trinity
received the remaining first-place vote.
Coach Hannah Long guided Southwestern to a 25-8 overall record and
a 12-2 mark in the SCAC to earn the No. 2 seed in this year’s
conference tournament. In her 11th season at the helm of the
Pirates’ program, Long has the highest winning percentage of
any coach in SCAC history (.791), having posted a career mark of
330-87. Her career winning percentage entering the 2014 season was
ranked seventh among all active Division III volleyball coaches.
This is the fifth time that Long has been recognized as SCAC
Coach-of-the-Year, which only trails her co-honoree for total
number of SCAC Volleyball COTY honors.
Coach Julie Jenkins has guided Trinity to a 26-9 overall record
this season, a 13-1 mark in the SCAC, and a No. 21 national ranking
in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll. In her 31st year has a head coach
(30th at Trinity), Jenkins is the winningest active coach in all of
Division III and enters this weekend with 828 wins. The 1999 AVCA
Division III National Coach-of-the-Year, she is the fifth
winningest coach in the history of Division III women’s
volleyball. This is the 12th time that Jenkins has been recognized
as SCAC Volleyball Coach-of-the-Year, making her one of only four
coaches in conference history to earn 10+ COTY honors in a single
sport.
Jenkins and Long each received four votes from their peers.
To view the entire 2014 All-SCAC Volleyball Team, click here.
