SUWANEE, Ga. – In exclusive all‐conference voting by the head coaches and sports information directors of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Mackenzie Logan of Trinity University was selected the SCAC Player‐of‐the‐Year honors while the Trinity coaching staff, led by head coach Julie Jenkins, were named the SCAC Coaching Staff‐of‐the‐Year. Complete Release

In the same balloting, University of St. Thomas’ Kara Spice was voted Backrow Player-of-the-Year and Trinity’s Marisa Amarino earned Setter-of-the-Year honors. Schreiner University’s Giana Hilliard was selected as Freshman-of-the-Year.

A senior outside hitter from Calgary, Canada, Logan leads the 13th-ranked Trinity squad and the SCAC in both kills per set (3.81) and points per set (4.0) and her .255 hitting percentage tops all outside hitters in the conference (11th overall). She stepped her game to another level in conference play, leading the league with kills (215), kills per set (3.91) and points per set (4.2), and her hitting percentage improved to .264 in those contests. A two-time SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week honoree this season, Logan’s selection marks a record 18th time a Trinity student-athlete has taken home the league’s highest honor and the third consecutive year a TU Tiger has earned the award – following former teammates Sara Flynn (2022) and Avery Tuggle (2021).

Logan received eight votes in the hotly contested balloting for POTY, one more than junior setter/outside hitter Shavonne Respondek of Texas Lutheran University who garnered seven votes. Senior outside hitter Isabella Lipacis of Colorado College received two votes, while first-year libero Laynie Kovacs of Austin College picked up the remaining first-place vote.

Amarino, a graduate setter from Calabasas, Calif., is currently first in the league among three-rotation setters, averaging 5.94 assists per set which ranks fourth among all setters. She was even more productive in conference-only competition, averaging 6.27 assists per set. Amarino’s leadership and ball handling abilities have helped the 13th-ranked Tigers to a team hitting percentage of .245, good for tops in the SCAC and 16th nationally. A four-time All-SCAC selection and two-time First Team honoree, Amarino is the first Trinity student-athlete to winner Setter-of-the-Year honors in the short four-year history of the award.

In another tightly contested vote, Amarino was the top pick on nine ballots, narrowly out-balloting senior setter Jenny Jenks of Colorado – the two-time defending Setter-of-the-Year – who was the top choice on eight ballots. Sophomore setter Ava Alvarado of University of Dallas received the remaining first place vote.

Spice, a junior libero from Cypress, Texas, leads the SCAC heading into this weekend’s conference tournament in total digs (668) and she is averaging 6.19 digs per set – a number that is good for sixth in the nation and on pace to be one of the top 10 single-season performances in conference history. She was selected SCAC Defensive Player-of-the-Week in week five when she averaged an incredible 11.20 digs per set for three matches, including a 37-dig performance against Texas Lutheran on September 30 which marked the most digs ever by a SCAC student-athlete in a three-set match. Spice is the second St. Thomas student-athlete to receive Backrow Player-of-the-Year recognition, joining former Celt Kaylyn Latin who earned the honor in back-to-back seasons in 2019 and 2020/21.

Spice received eight votes in the Backrow Player-of-the-Year balloting followed by senior libero Nadia Kern of Trinity who had five votes. First-year libero Laynie Kovacs of Austin College was listed atop three ballots and junior defensive specialist Geneva Nedrow of Southwestern received the remaining two first place votes.

Hilliard, a first-year outside hitter from San Antonio, Texas, leads all first-years in the SCAC in both kills (308 – third overall) and kills per set (2.85 – sixth overall) as well as points per set (3.0 – seventh overall). She is hitting .240 for the season, which currently ranks 15th among those who have at least 3.0 attacks per set played, and she is the only freshman among the six playoff teams to lead her team in kills and kills per set. Hilliard has played almost every set for the Mountaineers this season, posting double digit kills in 11 of her team’s 16 conference matches, including a season-high 17 against Colorado College on September 24.

Hillard’s selection as Freshman-of-the-Year marks the first time a Schreiner student-athlete has won a major postseason volleyball award since the Mountaineers joined the conference prior to the 2013 season. She received eight votes in this year’s FOTY balloting, followed by first-year libero Meghan Gannon of Colorado College, first-year libero Laynie Kovacs of Austin College and first-year right side Courtney Pope of Trinity who picked up three first-place votes each. First-year middle blocker Victoria Powell of Texas Lutheran received the remaining first place vote.

Head coach Julie Jenkins and her staff led AVCA 13th-ranked Trinity to a 26-4 overall mark, a 15-1 conference record, and another SCAC regular season title – the fifth consecutive year the Tigers have won or shared the regular season volleyball crown (no regular season champion was recognized in 2020-21). In her 40th season as a head coach and 39th at Trinity, Jenkins leads active NCAA Division III volleyball coaches in terms of victories, and stands second among all-time Division III coaches, becoming the 10th coach in NCAA history across all divisions, third in NCAA III, to cross the 1,000-win plateau on October 1, 2021, in a road shutout over Centenary College. Heading into this weekend’s conference tournament, she has an overall career mark of 1,075-434 (.712) and became the first SCAC coach in any sport to attain 400 conference wins when the Tigers defeated Schreiner, 3-0, in the team’s regular season finale last Thursday. Her conference winning percentage of .911 (400-39) is the highest of any current or former volleyball coach in SCAC history.

The award marks the 16th time Jenkins has been recognized by her peers as the conference’s Coach‐of‐ the‐Year (or Coaching Staff-of-the-Year), making her the most decorated head coach in any sport in league history.

To view the entire 2023 All-SCAC Volleyball Team, click here.