BATON ROUGE — LSU senior Ivana Kuzmic earned All-South Region honors as announced by the America Volleyball Coaches Association on Tuesday.
The All-South Region team consisted of 12 players, eight from the Southeastern Conference, with six honorable mention selections. Members of the eight separate all-region teams are now qualified for All-America honors, which will be presented on Dec. 14.
A first-team All-SEC selection, Kuzmic led the team with 1.71 blocks per game, the second best in the SEC and sixth most in the NCAA. In addition, the middle blocker led the team and ranked seventh in the SEC with a .342 hitting percentage and also averaged 2.28 kills per game. Against Kentucky, she became the first player to wear an LSU uniform to record 700 career blocks, while also racking up over 1,000 career kills.
The LSU career and single-season record holder for blocks per game, she ranked third in single-season block assists and seventh in total blocks this year. In her two seasons with the Tigers after transferring from Arkansas-Little Rock, she posted a total of eight double-figure blocking matches, including four in each season, becoming the first player to achieve that feat at LSU since the 1985-86 season.
Earlier this season against Campbell, she recorded a school record .923 hitting percentage, posting 12 kills with no errors on 13 attempts. It tied her for the 22nd best single-match mark in NCAA history. She went on to earn Most Valuable Player honors in the three-day Georgia Southern Invitational.
She was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week on three occasions and the SEC Player of the Week once this season. She garnered more SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors than any other player in the league this season. In addition, she was honored with more individual SEC weekly awards than any other non-freshman player in the league this season, behind only Tiger freshman Marina Skender, who earned five honors, including four Freshman of the Week marks.
This season marks the first AVCA All-Region honors of Kuzmic’s career. In 2004, she earned honorable mention All-South Region honors.
AVCA All-South Region Selections
Kristen Andre, Tennessee MB Sr.
Megan Argabright, Western Kentucky MB Fr.
Caron Blotch, Western Kentucky S Sr.
Jane Collymore, Florida OH Sr.
Kisya Killingsworth, Florida MB So.
Julie Knytych, Tennessee S Sr.
Ivana Kuzmic, LSU MB Sr.
Andressa Lyra, Middle Tennessee OH Jr.
Angie McGinnis, Florida S So.
Alexandra Oquendo, Georgia MB Sr.
Kelly Paiva, Florida Atlantic OH Sr.
Yuliya Stoyanova, Tennessee OH So.
Region Freshman of the Year: Megan Argabright, Western Kentucky, MB
Honorable Mention: Amy Allison (Arkansas, MB, Jr.), Jenni Casper (Kentucky, DS/L, Jr.), Shonda Cole (South Carolina, OH, Jr.) Amy Morris (Tennessee, DS/L, Sr.), Stefanie Panzer (Appalachian State, MB, Sr.), Crystal Towler (Western Kentucky, OH, Sr.)