MARGUERITE SPAETHLING OF COLORADO COLLEGE named SCAC Freshman of the Year.

Spaethling, a first-year middle hitter from Larkspur, Calif., currently leads the SCAC and is ninth in the nation in blocks, averaging 1.21 per set. She is third in the conference in total blocks (115), which includes a SCAC season-high 10 in a 3-2 victory over No. 12 Eastern (Pa.) University on Oct. 12. Spaethling is also fifth in hitting percentage (.300) heading into this weekend’s conference tournament.

Spaethling is the fifth consecutive Colorado College player to earn Freshman-of-the-Year honors – joining Emily Phillips (2012), Sarah Barker (2014) and current teammates Abbe Holtze (2013) and Myca Steffey-Bean (2015) as recent Tigers to win the award. Spaethling received six votes from the coaches for the Freshman-of-the-Year award, while Maggi Linker of Trinity received the remaining two first-place vote.