GAC announces year-end awards for volleyball
FROM STAFF REPORTS The Great American Conference presented its year-end awards and announced the All-Conference teams last week.
Henderson State’s Mackenzie Thoman was named defensive player of the year while Harding’s Kellie McKinnon earned the Elite Scholar Athlete award. Oklahoma Baptist’s Malia Leatherland was named offensive player, Northwestern Oklahoma State’s Addison Wimmer was named freshman, and Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Allie Hoang, Markenzie Benoit and Josh Collins were selected as setter, newcomer and coach of the year, respectively.
Leatherland is just the third twotime offensive player of the year, joining Harding’s Mollie Arnold and Zoe Hardin. Thoman repeated as defensive player, ranking second in the league in both total digs and digs per set, but she became the 13th player to reach the 1,500-dig career total.
Leatherland was the only unanimous All-GAC first team selection with Hoang, Benoit and Thoman also making the team. HSU’s Violeta Mendoza Quintana, NWOSU’s Kaydee Honeycutt, Harding’s Sarah Morehad and Arkansas Tech’s Tymber Riley rounded out the team.
The second team consisted of Wimmer, East Central’s Thalianette Garcia, Emma Strickland and Alejandra Delgado, Oklahoma Baptist’s Taneyah Brown and Kaylee Buell, Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Ruthie Forson and Arkansas Tech’s Kaylee Paladini.
The honorable mention team consisted of Harding’s McKinnon and Ally Stoner, Oklahoma Baptist’s Avery Hellmuth and Audrey Poupard, Ouachita Baptist’s Emily Low and Lexie Castillow, Arkansas-Monticello’s Jamie Agnew, HSU’s Christiane Uzoh, SEOSU’s Grace Shehadeh, Southern Arkansas’ Morgan Schuster, Southern Nazarene’s Sunny Batschelett and SWOSU’s MacKenzie Harless.
COWLEY FALLS IN NJCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — After winning 41 straight games this season, Cowley County Community College was knocked off in the NJCAA Division II National Championship game by Parkland College.
The Tigers (41-0) had dropped just three sets on the season while the Cobras (56-3) entered Saturday’s final on a 38-match win streak.
Parkland jumped out to a 25-20 win of the first set, but Cowley refused to back down, evening the match at a set apiece with a 25-20 win of its own. Parkland took a 10-5 lead in the third set, and while Cowley pulled within 16-14, the Cobras held on for a 25-21 win.
Cowley scored five of the first seven points in the fourth set, but the Cobras powered out to a 16-10 lead.
The Tigers responded with a 6-4 run, but a 5-1 spurt gave Parkland its first national title since 2016.
Fountain Lake grad Landry Cate, a middle for the Tigers, finished the weekend with 5 kills, 8 digs and 3 assisted blocks. She also served up 6 aces.