BATON ROUGE – The accolades continue to roll in for the LSU volleyball program as freshman right side hitter Taylor Bannister has been named AVCA All-America Honorable Mention as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association Wednesday.
Bannister is the 14th player in program history to earn the feat and is the first to be honored since the 2014 season.
“Taylor had an outstanding freshman year,” said head coach Fran Flory. “We are excited that she is being recognized for that success. This honor is a reflection of her, both for Taylor and for our program.”
The Missouri City, Texas native helped lead the Tigers to their first NCAA appearance since 2014 and the 15th overall in program history. The freshman earned All-SEC, SEC All-Freshman Team, AVCA South Region Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-South Region honors in the past weeks.
As the second Tiger in program history to earn South Region Freshman of the Year honors, Bannister led the Tigers with 361 kills on the year for an average of 3.22 kills per set. She hit .252 on the year and recorded a total of 402.5 points to go along with 77 blocks. She registered four 20-plus kill matches and 10 or more kills in 16 contests.
In SEC play, Bannister was one of four freshmen in the league’s Top 10 in kills per game at 3.39. She led the Tigers in kills in 19 of the team’s 30 matches.
In non-conference action, Bannister put together a career-high 26 kills on 38 attacks with just three errors for a .605 hitting percentage in the Tigers’ five-set thriller over High Point on September 8. That performance helped her earn her first SEC Freshman of the Week honor which was the first weekly honor for LSU volleyball since 2014. Bannister earned the weekly nod two more times in the season.
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