Player of the Year Hilton Headlines All-SAC Volleyball Team
Wingate junior outside hitter Anna Hilton has been named the 2012 SAC Volleyball Player of the Year, headlining the list of conference awards which was released on Thursday.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Wingate junior outside hitter Anna Hilton has been named the 2012 SAC Volleyball Player of the Year, headlining the list of conference awards which was released on Thursday.
Hilton was the leader on a Wingate team that went 26-2 overall and 16-2 in the SAC to win the program's seventh-straight regular-season conference title. Hilton finished second in the league in hitting percentage at 31.6-percent and ninth in kills with 289.
The 2011 All-SAC First Team selection and 2010 SAC All-Freshman Team pick also finished in the conference's top-20 in assists, digs and blocks this season.
[RELATED: SAC Volleyball Championship Central]
Hilton was one of a SAC-best five players from Wingate to earn All-Conference honors in 2012 and joined two other teammates on the First Team. Sophomore middle blocker Lexi Potter was a first-team selection from WU, as was sophomore outside hitter Susie Murach.
Potter, last season's SAC Freshman of the Year, led the league in hitting percentage in 2012 at 31.9-percent.
Two Bulldogs were selected to the All-SAC Second Team as well, including the league's Freshman of the Year Shelly Stumpff, who ranked 10th in the conference this season with 284 kills.
Tusculum -- which finished second in the 2012 SAC standings -- had four players selected to the All-Conference Team, led by first-team picks Caitlyn Dean and Kassie Voelker.
Dean, a junior libero, led the nation in digs during the regular season with 735. This marks her third-straight selection to the All-SAC First Team.
Catawba placed two student-athletes on the 2012 All-SAC Team, including first-team selection Kaitlyn Whitmer, who led the league in kills during the regular season with 439. The senior was a member of the All-Conference First Team in 2011 as well.
Completing the 2012 All-SAC First Team were Lincoln Memorial senior Blaire Fowler, Newberry junior Samantha Parrish and Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore Haley Rhyne.
Fowler, Parrish and Rhyne finished second, third and fifth, respectively, in the conference in kills during the regular season. Last year, Fowler was a member of the All-SAC First Team, Parrish was a second-team pick and Rhyne was a member of the All-Freshman Team.
Catawba, Mars Hill and Anderson each had one student-athlete named to the 2012 All-Conference Second Team. The league's All-Freshman Team, meanwhile, consisted of two players from Wingate and one apiece from Tusculum, L-R, Catawba and LMU.
Wingate's Shelton Collier and Tusculum's Michael Robinson, whose teams earned the top two seeds in 2012 Food Lion SAC Volleyball Championship, were selected as co-SAC Coaches of the Year. Collier wins the award for the sixth time in his career, while Robinson earns it for the second time.
The All-Conference Teams and individual awards are chosen by the league's head coaches.
2012 All-SAC Team
First Team
Anna Hilton, Wingate
Kaitlyn Whitmer, Catawba
Blaire Fowler, Lincoln Memorial
Samantha Parrish, Newberry
Haley Rhyne, Lenoir-Rhyne
Caitlyn Dean, Tusculum
Lexi Potter, Wingate
Kassie Voelker, Tusculum
Susie Murach, Wingate
Second Team
Ashley Sarmiento, Tusculum
Alyssa Raterman, Tusculum
Shelly Stumpff, Wingate
Marissa Wixson, Mars Hill
Grace Krauser, Wingate
Shannon Gillespie, Anderson
Jenny Young, Catawba
All-Freshman Team
Shelly Stumpff, Wingate
Iris Brewer, Wingate
Danae Stauffer, Tusculum
Ashley Wells, Lenoir-Rhyne
Rachel Gallup, Catawba
Casey Mense, Lincoln Memorial
Player of the Year: Anna Hilton, Wingate
Freshman of the Year: Shelly Stumpff, Wingate
Co-Coach of the Year: Shelton Collier, Wingate
Co-Coach of the Year: Michael Robinson, Tusculum