Repeat Player of the Year Hilton Headlines SAC Volleyball Awards
Wingate’s Anna Hilton has become just the third student-athlete in SAC volleyball history to repeat as the conference’s Player of the Year, headlining Thursday’s announcement of the league’s awards.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Wingate's Anna Hilton has become just the third student-athlete in SAC volleyball history to repeat as the conference's Player of the Year, headlining Thursday's announcement of the league's awards.
Hilton, a senior, joins former Wingate student-athlete Stormi Gale and former Presbyterian student-athlete Pam Deanhardt as the conference's only two-time Player of the Year honorees. Hilton ranked second in the league with a .349 hitting percentage and was sixth in kills per set at 3.39 during the regular season. She was a driving force in leading Wingate to its eighth-straight SAC title and sixth unbeaten conference record in the past seven years.
Hilton is one of five Wingate players named to the All-SAC team, which is the most in the conference. Tusculum, Lenoir-Rhyne, Lincoln Memorial and Mars Hill each have three All-Conference picks, while Anderson, Carson-Newman, Newberry and Queens all have two apiece.
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Joining Hilton on the All-SAC First Team are fellow Bulldog players Alison Cooke and Lexi Potter. Cooke's average of 9.46 assists per set is the league's fourth-best, while Potter leads the conference and ranks sixth in the nation with a .386 hitting percentage.
Tusculum's Caitlyn Dean earned a first-team selection after finishing the regular season with a SAC-best 653 digs. She became Division II's all-time leader in the category on Nov. 16 in a TC win at Coker.
A pair of Anderson players – Shannon Gillespie and Hailey Pittman – were named to the First Team, along with Lenoir-Rhyne's Haley Rhyne and Queens' Keri Kemp. Gillespie led the SAC with 466 kills, Kemp ranked third with 386, Pittman was fifth with 370 and Rhyne finished sixth with 354.
In addition to the individual accolades, each program represented by a student-athlete on the All-SAC First Team earned spots in the 2013 Food Lion SAC Volleyball Championship bracket.
Mars Hill and Wingate both had two selections to the All-SAC Second Team, as the Lions are represented by Marissa Wixson and Maggie Murphy, while the Bulldogs' spots went to Susie Murach and Allison Rickher. They are joined on the Second Team by Tusculum's Kassie Voelker, Newberry's Samantha Parrish, Lincoln Memorial's Kaitlin Walton and Carson-Newman's Rachel Harper.
Rounding out the All-Conference accolades as honorable mention picks are Lenoir-Rhyne's Briana Gottberg and Kayla Morrow, LMU's Casey Mense and Jazzy Oates, Queens' Anna Gibbs, Tusculum's Megan Hasse, Newberry's Jessica King and Mars Hill's Toni Cole.
Tusculum's Rachel Garnett was named the SAC Freshman of the Year after ranking 11th in the conference with 286 kills and 15th in hitting percentage at .251. She leads the SAC All-Freshman Team, which also includes Wingate's Abby Saehler, Mars Hill's Marykate Griffin, Newberry's Logan Hayward, Queens' Meredith Jones and LMU's Abby Cash.
Wingate's Shelton Collier was voted as the league's Coach of the Year following the Bulldogs' dominant regular season. Collier has now won or shared the Coach of the Year award in each of the last seven seasons.
SAC Player of the Year: Anna Hilton, Wingate
SAC Freshman of the Year: Rachel Garnett, Tusculum
SAC Coach of the Year: Shelton Collier, Wingate
All-Conference First Team
Anna Hilton, Wingate
Caitlyn Dean, Tusculum
Alison Cooke, Wingate
Haley Rhyne, Lenoir-Rhyne
Lexi Potter, Wingate
Shannon Gillespie, Anderson
Keri Kemp, Queens
Hailey Pittman, Anderson
All-Conference Second Team
Marissa Wixson, Mars Hill
Susie Murach, Wingate
Kassie Voelker, Tusculum
Samantha Parrish, Newberry
Maggie Murphy, Mars Hill
Kaitlin Walton, Lincoln Memorial
Allison Rickher, Wingate
Rachel Harper, Carson-Newman
All-Conference Honorable Mention
Anna Gibbs, Queens
Megan Hasse, Tusculum
Jessica King, Newberry
Briana Gottberg, Lenoir-Rhyne
Toni Cole, Mars Hill
Kayla Morrow, Lenoir-Rhyne
Kristen Pickett, Carson-Newman
Casey Mense, Lincoln Memorial
Jazzy Oates, Lincoln Memorial
All-Freshman Team
Rachel Garnett, Tusculum
Abby Saehler, Wingate
Marykate Griffin, Mars Hill
Logan Hayward, Newberry
Meredith Jones, Queens
Abby Cash, Lincoln Memorial