BATON ROUGE — LSU senior Daniela Romero earned All-South Region honors, while sophomore Marina Skender earned honorable mention honors, as announced by the America Volleyball Coaches Association on Wednesday.
The All-South Region team consists of 12 players, eight from the Southeastern Conference, with six honorable mention selections, five from the SEC. Members of the eight separate all-region teams are now qualified for All-America honors, which will be presented on Dec. 13.
The honor marks the first All-Region award of Romero’s career after starting for the Tigers at setter in all four of her seasons. Earlier this year, she earned First-Team All-SEC honors and her first SEC Player of the Week honors, taking home the award on Sept. 5. In addition, she also picked up Most Valuable Player honors at the Billiken and Dayton Marriott Invitationals and was selected to the Tiger Invitational and SEC/Big East Challenge all-tournament teams.
The Arlington, Texas, native led the SEC and ranks 14th in the NCAA with 13.43 assists per game. While recording 50 or more assists in 13 matches this season, her 1,531 assists this year ranks fourth in single-season assists in school history. In addition, she ranks second in career assists behind only Daniela Reis, who also holds the SEC career record.
Guiding the LSU offense to school records for kills and assists per game, she led the Tigers to eight matches with hitting percentages over .300. With 51 assists against Kentucky, she tied for the seventh-most assists in a three-game match in school history. Against Marquette, she became just the eighth player in Tiger history to record 1,000 career digs. Romero now ranks eighth in career digs in LSU history.
After earning First-Team All-SEC honors earlier in the season, Skender now has made the honorable mention All-South Region team for the first time in her career.
The outside hitter from Zagreb, Croatia, led the team and ranks ninth in the SEC with 3.84 kills per game. This season, she leads the Tigers with 17 double-doubles, with double-figure kills in 28 matches and double-figure digs in 19 matches. Against nationally ranked Florida, she recorded career highs for kills and digs with 23 of each. She posted a season-best .459 hitting percentage against NCAA Tournament participant Alabama.
Skender also led the SEC and ranked sixth in the NCAA with 0.68 service aces per game. Ranked 11th in single-season service aces in LSU history, she recorded the fifth-most aces in a four-game match in school history earlier this year with seven against Texas A&M. As one of the Tigers’ primary passers, she recorded just 15 reception errors in 601 attempts for a .974 reception percentage.
AVCA All-South Region Selections
Ashley Adams, Middle Tennessee State OH So.
Megan Argabright**, Western Kentucky MB So.
Sarah Blum, Tennessee MB Sr.
Shonda Cole, South Carolina OH Sr.
Crystal Hudson, Alabama MB Jr.
Denitza Koleva, Arkansas OH Sr.
Amber McCray, Florida RS/Opp Jr.
Angie McGinnis**, Florida S Jr.
Colleen Nilson, Belmont University S Jr.
Daniela Romero, LSU S Sr.
Yarimar Rosa, Florida International OH Fr.
Yuliya Stoyanova**, Tennessee OH Jr.
* – Denotes total number of years selected to AVCA All-Region Team
Region Freshman of the Year: Yarimar Rosa, Florida International, OH
Honorable Mention: Nicole Britenriker (Kentucky, MB, Jr.), Elyse Cusack (Florida, DS/Lib, Fr.), Marcie Hampton (Florida, OH, Jr.), Nicole Palazzo (Furman, MB, So.), Marina Skender (LSU, OH, So.), Jaclyn Toohey (Mississippi, OH, Sr.)