BATON ROUGE – LSU and Northwestern State doubled up on special award winners and were joined by winners from Louisiana Tech and Xavier University as the Louisiana Sports Writers Association announced its annual All-Louisiana College Volleyball Team.
The team was selected based on nominations by the various volleyball playing schools in the state. Under new LSWA rules this year, no school voter could vote for athletes from their own schools and each school nominating had to submit a final ballot for their nominees to be eligible for the team.
LSU junior outside hitter Madie Jones was named the 2011 Player of the Year in the state and the Tigers’ Meghan Mannari tied with Keelie Arneson of Northwestern State for Libero of the Year.
The Demons’ outside hitter, Stacey DiFrancesco, was named the state’s top freshman, while Louisiana Tech Libero Stephany Salas earned Newcomer of the Year honors for non-freshman playing their first year in the state. Christabell Hamilton of Xavier was chosen as the Coach of the Year.
Jones, from Plano, Texas, was named Second-Team All-Southeastern Conference, after posting a team-best 3.55 kills per set to rank sixth in the league. She finished the year with a .278 hitting percentage and had double figure spikes in 20 of 28 matches, including a quartet of 20-plus spike performances.
Mannari, a junior from Frisco, Texas, also earned Second-Team All-SEC honors and ranked second in the league in digs at 4.67 per set. Her 518 total scoops also were the third-highest season total in program history. She had 20-plus digs nine times and recorded a team-best 38 aces. She also was named AVCA All-South Region Honorable Mention.
Arneson won Co-Libero honors with Mannari as a freshman for Northwestern State, breaking the single-season digs record at the school with 539, an average of 4.69 a set. She had double figure digs in 29-of-30 matches this season and was sixth in the Southland Conference.
The Demons’ DiFrancesco from The Woodlands, Texas, tallied 14 double-doubles in 16 SLC matches, finishing second in the conference in kills (424, 3.79 per set). She became the first Lady Demon in the program’s history to win SLC Freshman of the Year as well as earn Second-Team All-SLC accolades.
Newcomer Salas came to Tech from Bayamon, Puerto Rico and led the WAC in digs per set with 4.62, with 39 aces and a team-high 407 digs. She had 20 or more digs in seven games. She transferred to Tech from Lee College in Texas.
Hamilton was the GCAC Co-Coach of the Year as he improved Xavier’s program by 15 matches as the Gold Nuggets were 23-7 in 2010, the first winning season in school history. Xavier also was the fourth most improved team in the NAIA, finishing 10-0 in the GCAC. The team won nine of its 10 matches that went four and five sets.
Joining Jones, Arneson, Mannari and DiFrancesco on the LSWA’s First Team are Nicole Bowden of McNeese, Desiree Elliott and Malorie Pardo of LSU and Cori Martone of Tulane.
Joining Libero Salas on the LSWA’s Second Team are Becky Bekelja of McNeese, Zuzana Markova of Louisiana-Monroe, Lesley Mirarchi of Louisiana-Lafayette, Taylor Reuther of Xavier, Michele Williams of LSU and Ann Wruck of Tulane.
Paige Dollison of Southeastern, Nikki Osuna of Tulane, Clara Vido of Louisiana Tech and Samantha Worsham of Loyola garnered LSWA Honorable Mention status.
LSWA ALL-LOUISIANA COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL TEAM
FIRST TEAM
POS/NAME/SCHOOL/CLASS/HOMETOWN/NOTES
OH/Nicole Bowden/McNeese State/Sr./The Woodlands, Texas/First Team All-SLC, .304 Hitting Pct.
OH/Stacey DiFrancesco/Northwestern State/Fr./The Woodlands, Texas/SLC Freshman of Year, 424 kills
MB/Desiree Elliott/LSU/So./Cypress, Texas/Second Team All-SEC, top SEC MB avg of 3.40 kills a set
OH/Madie Jones/LSU/Jr./Plano, Texas/Second Team All-SEC, double figure kills 20 matches
OH-MB/Cori Martone/Tulane/So./Baton Rouge, La./Second Team All-C-USA, double figures 17 matches
S/Malorie Pardo/LSU/Fr./League City, Texas/All-SEC Freshman team, 11.71 assists per set, ninth in NCAA
L/Keelie Arneson/Northwestern State/Fr./Tomball, Texas/Broke single-season school digs mark (539)
L/Meghan Mannari/LSU/Jr./Frisco, Texas/Second-Team All-SEC, 518 digs, 4.67 a set, second in SEC
PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Madie Jones, LSU
Voting: Jones 5, Bowden 3, DiFrancesco 3, Salas 1
LIBERO OF THE YEAR – (Tie) – Keelie Arneson, Northwestern State; Meghan Mannari, LSU
Voting: Arneson 5, Mannari 5, Salas 2
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR – Stacey DiFrancesco, Northwestern State
Voting: DiFrancesco 5, Pardo 3, Reuther 3, Christal Kay-Hollins 1
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR – Stephany Salas, Louisiana Tech
Voting: Salas 7, Markova 5
COACH OF THE YEAR – Christabell Hamilton, Xavier
Voting: Hamilton 5, Ernest Vazquez (ULM) 3, Tommy Harold (Loyola) 2, Fran Flory (LSU) 1
SECOND TEAM
S – Becky Bekelja, McNeese State, Jr., League City, Texas; S – Zuzana Markova, ULM, Jr., Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic; MB – Lesley Mirarchi, Louisiana-Lafayette, Sr., Plano, Texas; OH – Taylor Reuther, Xavier, Fr., Metairie, La.; MB – Michele Williams, LSU, Sr., Magnolia, Texas; MB – Anna Wruck, Tulane, Fr., Monmouth, Ore.; L – Stephany Salas, Louisiana Tech, Jr., Bayamon, Puerto Rico.
HONORABLE MENTION
MB – Paige Dollison, Southeastern, Sr., Valley, Neb.; L – Nikki Osuna, Tulane, Sr., Bellflower, Calif.; OH – Clara Vido, Louisiana Tech, So., Belo Horizonte, Brazil; S — Samantha Worsham, Loyola, Jr., Chicago, Ill.