ABBE HOLTZE OF COLORADO COLLEGE was selected SCAC Player‐of‐the‐Year.

A senior outside hitter from Manhatten Beach, Calif., and a three-time All-America selection, Holtze has been the anchor of the Colorado College offense and defense this season. Heading into this weekend’s conference tournament, Holtze is fourth in the SCAC in kills (364), second in kills per set (3.60) and 10th in digs per set (3.56). She has 16 double-doubles (third in the SCAC) and has been a two-time Offensive and one-time Defensive Player-of-the-Week selection during the 2016 season. With 1,632 career kills heading into this weekend’s tournament, Holtze is just 34 kills from becoming Colorado College’s all-time leader in that category.

With this year’s selection and after earning SCAC Player-of-the-Year honors in 2014, Holtze becomes the fifth player in league history to earn multiple POTY awards in a career. Additionally, she is just the third player to have both a Freshman-of-the-Year honor (2013) and a POTY honor (2014 and 2016) on her resume. It is also the third consecutive year that a Colorado College student-athlete has taken home the league’s highest honor as former teammate Courtney Birkett won the award a year ago.

In a tightly contested vote, Holtze received four first-place votes from the coaches in the balloting for Player-of-the-Year while Trinity University’s Kirby Smith received three. Nikki Welch of Southwestern picked up the remaining first-place vote.