HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team earned numerous honors within Region V of the AVCA's Division III Regional Awards following the conclusion of regular season play. Mackenzie Coley, Olivia Foley, Lily Podolan, and Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez were named to the Region V First Team, while Audrey Muth earned Honorable Mention honors. Coley was named Region V's Player of the Year, and Head Coach Heather Pavlik earned Coach of the Year for the third time.
Coley was named Region V Player of the Year in addition. Middle hitter Coley holds the Landmark Conference's best hitting percentage at .391, which gives her the 16th-best hitting percentage in DIII women's volleyball. She's collected 246 kills, 27 aces, 22 digs, and a team-high 67 total blocks, the seventh-most in the Landmark Conference. She made the All-Landmark Conference First Team while being named the Conference's Player of the Year. Coley was also named Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week for women's volleyball twice this season (9-20, 10-10).
Rousset-Hernandez earned her second appearance on the AVCA Region V All-Region Team. The libero has collected the second-most digs per set in the Landmark Conference with 5.35 per set, the 36th-best rate in DIII volleyball. Rousset-Hernandez has the most aces for the Eagles, while she has the second-best rate for aces per set (.60) in the Landmark Conference behind teammate Kennedy Christy. She has totaled 67 assists, 519 digs, 58 aces, and five kills. She opened the NCAA Tournament yesterday against Keene State with four aces and 13 digs in a 3-0 victory. Rousset-Hernandez was named Landmark Conference Specialist of the Year while also placing on the All-Conference Second Team for the second consecutive season.
Muth earns All-Region Honorable Mention status. She succeeds setter Olivia Foley and Emma Davis, who earned the past two Regional Freshman of the Year awards for Region V. The outside hitter has collected 263 total kills, the second-most on the team. She has also totaled 60 digs, 34 total blocks, and one assist. Muth also earned Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year honors while placing on the Landmark's All-Conference Second Team.
Setter Foley was named to the All-Region V Team for the second consecutive season following the 2021 season, where she also collected Regional Freshman of the Year Honors. She holds the 8th-best rate for assists per set (10.42) in DIII volleyball while also leading the conference in that figure. She has collected 47 kills, 21 aces, 185 digs, 17 blocks, and the fourth-best hitting percentage on the team at .271 (minimum 100 attacks). Foley placed on the Landmark Conference First Team for the second consecutive season. She earned Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week on October 24th.
Podolan makes her first appearance in the All-Region Team. She has the fifth-best hitting percentage in the Landmark Conference (.304), the fourth-highest kills per set in the conference (3.30), a team-high 284 kills, two assists, 38 digs, and 38 total blocks. In yesterday's NCAA Tournament opener against Keene State, Podolan posted a .571 hitting percentage with ten kills. She placed on the Landmark Conference All-Conference First Team for the first time and was named Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week on October 3rd.
Heather Pavlik was named AVCA Region V Coach of the Year, previously earning honors in 2013 and 2018. Under her leadership, the 2022 Eagles have so far claimed their 15th consecutive Landmark Conference title and 41st consecutive Conference Championship (including championships in the MAC). Following victory last evening, Juniata has advanced past the first round of NCAA Tournament Play every year since first qualifying for the tournament in 1981. The team currently holds a 29-1 record with 22 consecutive victories. Juniata is leader in several statistical categories within NCAA DIII Volleyball with the lowest opponent hitting percentage (.059), the fifth-most kills per set (13.73), and the ninth-most assists per set (12.45) while being tied for the sixth-best hitting percentage (.258). Pavlik also earned her sixth Landmark Conference Coach of the Year award.
The Eagles host the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament on Friday evening at 7:00 pm at Memorial Gymnasium.
*All season stats mentioned are as of 11/6/2022.
