LEXINGTON, Ky. – Five Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference volleyball players earned All-West Region honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association this week. Complete AVCA All-Region Release
Colorado College's seniors Courtney Birkett and Sophie Merrifield join junior Abbe Holtze to round out the awards for the Tigers. Senior Kaitlyn Foster and junior Nikki Welch of Southwestern University also earned the honor for the first time in their career.
Birkett, the SCAC Player of the Year, earned her second consecutive award after leading the tigers with 652 assists, 86 total blocks and 77 block assists. Birkett also earned the SCAC Offensive Player of the Week honor three times this season and became the fifth player in program history to record 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs.
Holtze, a first-team all-SCAC selection and three time All-West region honoree led the Tigers with 458.5 points, 396 kills and 40 service aces. Holtze joined Birkett as just the fourth player to earn at least 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs.
Merrifield posted 663 digs this season and earned the SCAC Back Row Player of the Year award. She broke the program record for career digs with a total of 2,490 and was a three-time SCAC Defensive Player of the Week honoree.
Southwestern University's Foster, a first-team All-SCAC selection, ranks second in the conference in kills per set (3.64) and fourth in total kills (335). She also ranks in the top ten in digs (395) and digs per set (4.29). Foster was a two-time SCAC Offensive Player of the Week honoree and also became the first player in SCAC history to earn consecutive Offensive Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the week honors.
Welch joined Foster as a first-team All-SCAC selection after posting 847 total assists and 9.21 assists per set on the season, both second in the conference. The junior setter is also top 20 in the conference in digs per set.
Southwestern University finished the season with a 31-4 overall record and won the SCAC tournament to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Foster, Welch and the Pirates will take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the first round on November 13th at 3:30 PM EST.
Colorado College earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament after posting a program best 34-3 overall record. Birkett, Holtze, Merrifield and the Tigers will take on Cal Lutheran in the first round on November 13th at 11:00 PM EST.
