Women's Volleyball Earns Five AVCA All-Region Selections, Player of the Year, Coach of the Year
LEXINGTON, Ken.- The Juniata women's volleyball team put five on the AVCA DIII Women's Volleyball All-Region V Team in 2023, while setter Olivia Foley was named the region's Player of the Year and head coach Heather Pavlik was named Coach of the Year.
Foley was joined by middle hitter Mackenzie Coley, outside hitter Audrey Muth, and libero Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez, while opposite hitter Lily Podolan earned an Honorable Mention selection.
Olivia Foley was named an AVCA All-Region player for the third time in her career, while its her first time as a Regional Player of the Year. She marked her third season on the Landmark All-Conference First-Team earlier this week. As it stands, she is third in DIII and first in-conference for digs per set (11.14), while she is guiding the Juniata offense to the best hitting percentage in the country (.295). In addition to her 854 assists, she has 31 aces and 214 digs. Foley earned Landmark Athlete of the Week honors once this season (Oct. 30). Her 2978 assists currently puts her tenth in program history.
Mackenzie Coley placed on the All-Region Team for the second time in her career, she was named Landmark Player of the Year and a First-Team All-Conference Player for the second consecutive season earlier this week. It's third straight season that she has landed on an all-conference team. Entering NCAA Tournament play, Coley's .399 hitting percentage is seventh in DIII. Within the Landmark Conference, she leads in hitting percentage, is second in kills per set (3.76), and sixth in blocks per set. She earned Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week honors twice (Sept. 11, Nov. 6). Coley also had a record-setting individual match performance, posting a .731 hitting percentage with 21 kills against Lynchburg (Oct. 28). It's the fifth-best hitting percentage in program history (minimum 20 attempts), while it's the tenth-best since rally scoring was introduced in 2001 (minimum 15 attempts).
Kiona Sky Rousset-Hernandez becomes a third-time All-Region Player. Within the Landmark Conference, she earned Specialist of the Year honors, while she got a bump up to the All-Conference First-Team after two seasons on the Second Team. Rousset-Hernandez has been an effective server and passer for Juniata this season, sitting third in the conference for aces per set (0.64) and sixth in the conference for digs per set (4.70). Her current career digs tally of 1536 puts her eighth in program history.
Audrey Muth becomes a first-time All-Region player after placing on the Honorable Mention list in 2022. She also earned a place on the All-Landmark Conference Second Team this season. She currently is tenth in the conference for hitting percentage (.267) and ninth for kills per set (2.79). She leads Juniata outsides in kills (225), while she also has 31 blocks and 38 digs.
Lily Podolan earned Honorable Mention recognition after an All-Region selection in 2022. She was also Landmark All-Conference player for the second time in her career, following up a First-Team nomination in 2022 with a place on the Second Team in 2023. She sits ninth in the conference for hitting percentage (.270) leading Juniata's regular outsides. She has 181 kills, 28 blocks, 48 digs, and a couple of aces.
Heather Pavlik earned her third AVCA Division III Women's Volleyball Regional Coach of the Year Award. She is a back-to-back winner of the award for the first time in her career. Earlier in the week, she also secured her seventh Landmark Conference Coaching Staff of the Year award as a head coach. The program has just earned its 42nd consecutive conference championship and 16th consecutive Landmark Conference Championship, standing undefeated through 29 matches entering NCAA Tournament play. The team currently leads the country in hitting percentage (.295), is second in aces per set (3.58), fourth in assists per set (13.02), and maintaining the fourth-lowest opponent hitting percentage (.071).
The #1 Juniata Eagles will begin NCAA Tournament play by hosting Regional Finals this Thursday, November 16th-Saturday, November 18th. They'll open play as the region's #1 seed against #8 Penn State Altoona on Thursday at 7:00 pm at Memorial Gymnasium. Single-day tickets for the NCAA Regionals will be $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens and veterans, and $8 for students with IDs, and $5 for children aged 12 and under. Children aged 2 and under will have free admission.