Women's Volleyball Sweeps Major Conference Awards, Places Five on All-Conference Teams
HUNTINGDON, Pa.- The Juniata women's volleyball team earned numerous honors within the Landmark Conference following the conclusion of regular season play. Mackenzie Coley, Olivia Foley, and Lily Podolan were named to the All-Landmark Conference First Team. Audrey Muth and Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez were named to the Second Team. Coley was named Player of the Year, Rousset-Hernandez earned Specialist of the Year honors, and Muth earned Rookie of the Year honors. Head Coach Heather Pavlik earned Coach of the Year for the sixth season.
Coley was named Landmark Conference Player of the Year while earning her first All-Landmark Conference First Team appearance after appearing on the second team in her first season. Middle hitter Coley holds the 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 conference. Coley was also named Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week for women's volleyball twice this season (9-20, 10-10).
Rousset-Hernandez was named Landmark Conference Specialist of the Year while being named to the second team for the second consecutive season. The libero has collected the second-most digs per set in the 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 conference behind teammate Kennedy Christy. She has totaled 67 assists, 519 digs, 58 aces, and five kills.
Muth earns Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year honors while joining Rousset-Hernandez on the All-Landmark Conference Second Team. 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.
Setter Olivia Foley was named to the All-Landmark Conference First Team for the second consecutive season following the 2021 season, where she also collected Rookie 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). She earned Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week on October 24th.
Podolan makes her first appearance on the All-Landmark First 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. She was named Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week on October 3rd.
Heather Pavlik was named Landmark Conference Coach of the Year for the sixth time and the first time since 2018. Under her lead, the Eagles have so far claimed their 15th consecutive Landmark Conference title and 41st consecutive Conference Championship (including championships in the MAC). The team currently holds a 28-1 record with 21 consecutive victories. Juniata are leaders 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).
The Eagles will host the first three rounds of the NCAA tournament beginning this Thursday when they will take on Keene State.