Women’s Volleyball Picks Up Six AVCA All-America honorsWomen’s Volleyball Picks Up Six AVCA All-America honors
Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics

Women’s Volleyball Picks Up Six AVCA All-America honors

AVCA RELEASE

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Penn State women's volleyball team saw six student-athletes honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) on Wednesday afternoon as the organization its All-America selections on Wednesday morning.

Penn State now has 49 All-American athletes who have collected 103 All-America honors since 1979 after the Nittany Lions earned six All-America honors in back-to-back seasons.

Junior libero Kendall White was named to the AVCA All-America First Team for her play over the 2018 season, becoming the first Penn State libero to earn first-team honors, and the first to earn All-American status in consecutive seasons after earning second-team honors in 2017. White set two individual records on the season, breaking the single-single season record for digs in the 25-point rally scoring era with 558. The Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year also set the digs per set record in the 25-point rally scoring era with 4.76. White also helped hold opposing defenses to .170 hitting on the season and guided the Nittany Lion defense as a whole to a 25-point era program record of 14.74 digs per set. Against top-50 opponents in the regular season, White increased her digs per set average to 5.43 and was 97.5-percent perfect on serve reception. White also recorded two 30-plus dig matches this past season (31 vs. Nebraska, 11/2, and 32 vs. Illinois, 11/10), becoming the first Penn State player in history to have multiple 30-plus dig matches in a season, and her three career total 30-plus matches (32 vs. Nebraska, 11/4/16; plus two above) are the most by any individual in Penn State history. No other player has more than one in a career. Her two 32-dig matches stand in second place in the 25-point rally scoring era for Penn State, and her 31-dig match is good for third by itself.

White is the forty-third First-Team certificate for the Nittany Lions (third-most all-time), and the twenty-second different player in program history to garner an AVCA First-Team award.

Freshman Jonni Parker was named to the AVCA All-America Third Team and was one of two freshmen honored to make one of the top three teams, for her performance in her rookie campaign. Parker, who played opposite for the Nittany Lions, led Penn State in points with 421.5 and total kills at 351. She averaged 3.00 kills per set on .260 hitting. She added 1.74 digs per set, 0.77 blocks per set, and 24 service aces. The Big Ten Freshman of the Year tallied 18 double-digit kill performances including putting down 29 against then-No. 3 Minnesota, becoming the first Penn State freshman to reach that number of kills since at least the 2001 season. Parker also recorded two double-doubles in 2018, the first at Ohio State on September 23 with 12 kills and 11 digs, and the second versus Wisconsin on November 24 with 11 kills and ten digs.
 

Redshirt seniors Nia Reed and Bryanna Weiskircher, along with freshmen Kaitlyn Hord and Serena Gray, were named to AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans, all earning their first career All-America honors.

Reed finished 2018 with a team-best 3.26 kills per set, hitting .253 and scoring 385.0 points. She totaled 0.74 blocks per set with a team-high 22 solo blocks. She added 56 digs as well. Reed tallied 18 double-digit kills, including two career-high 20-kill performances, the first against Nebraska on October 13, and the second coming against Wisconsin on November 24.

Weiskircher finished the season with 1,258 assists, 268 digs, 74 blocks, 68 kills, and a team-high 29 aces. Her 1,258 was a career best for a single season. Weiskircher also tallied 11 double-doubles on the season with digs and assists and surpassed 60 assists twice this season, giving her a new career-high of 63 in Penn State five-set win over Minnesota.
 

Hord finished the year with the team-high hitting percentage of .383 with 2.12 kills per set. She also averaged 1.24 blocks per set for a total of 288.0 points on the year. Hord earned both All-Big Ten Second Team honors and Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors, as well as one Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor. Hord had six double-figure kill matches throughout the year, including a season-high 16 against Oregon.

Gray finished the year with 177 kills, for 1.84 per set on a .325 hitting percentage. She added 1.24 blocks per set, 40 digs, and 13 aces. Gray earned on Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor during the season and had three double-digit kill performances, including a season-high 12 against Wisconsin.

Penn State finished the 2018 season with a 26-8 record, and a 14-6 record in the Big Ten, along with a trip to the NCAA Regional Final in Palo Alto, California. Penn State graduates Reed, Weiskircher, Taylor Leath and Bayleigh Hoffman, but return starters in Parker, Hord, Gray and White at libero.