The South Atlantic Conference Announces 2021 Volleyball Award Winners

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Wingate setter Shannon Kasprak was voted the 2021 South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Player of the Year, while Anderson outside hitter Tabitha Wheeler was named the Conference's Freshman of the Year and Anderson head coach Todd Hay was named Coach of the Year, the conference office announced today.

Kasprak, a junior from Austin TX., had a remarkable spring season for the Bulldogs, leading them to a 9-1 overall record. She is third in the league in assists with 339 and first in assists per set with 11.30. She recorded 28 or more assists in nine of 10 matches this season, including eight matches with 30-plus assists. She was awarded SAC AstroTurf Volleyball Specialist of the Week honors three times during the 2021 spring season.

Wheeler, a freshman from Greenville, S.C., will be a force to recon with after completing her first year at Anderson. She ranks seventh in the league in service aces with 13, fourteenth in kills per set with 2.71, seventh in points with 122.5 and eleventh in points per set with 3.2. 

Hay led the Trojans to an 8-2 record overall, going 7-2 in the SAC in the 2021 spring season. Hay's Trojan's finished first in the league in kills (562), second in kills per set (13.71), fifth in digs (659), third in blocks per set (2.24), and second in points per set (17.9). This is Coach Hay's second time receiving this honor with the first being awarded in the 2017-18 season. 

Joining Kasprak on the first team was teammate Sophie Schaff, Queens' Casey Tarvin, Lenoir-Rhyne's Taylor Prall, Carson-Newman's Megan Oldenburger, Anderson's Maya Learmonth, Newberry's Natasha Bannister and Mars Hill's Ully Martins.

2021 SAC Volleyball All-Conference

First Team

Taylor Prall, Lenoir-Rhyne

Shannon Kasprak, Wingate

Sophie Schaff, Wingate

Megan Oldenburger, Carson-Newman

Natasha Bannister, Newberry

Maya Learmonth, Anderson

Casey Tarvin, Queens

Ully Martins, Mars Hill (L)

Second Team
Jana Cuk, Mars Hill

Reese Blackley, Wingate

Regan Duty, Anderson

Madison Roy, Anderson

Logan Witt, Queens

Erin Edwards, Carson-Newman

Zoe Dinkins, Newberry

Courtney Niesen, Wingate (L)

Honorable Mention
Tabitha Wheeler, Anderson

JayCee Jones, Queens (L)

Peyton Gash, Tusculum

Brooke Farley, Queens

Gabriela Abreu, Lincoln Memorial

Yileen Ng He, Lincoln Memorial

Vanessa Blas, Limestone

Emily Everton, Coker

All-Freshman

Tabitha Wheeler, Anderson

Taylor Hall, Newberry

Peyton Gash, Tusculum

Hayden Barton, Carson-Newman

Lorna Stacherski, Wingate

Cassidy Farley, Virginia-Wise

Player of the Year

Shannon Kasprak, Wingate

Freshman of the Year

Tabitha Wheeler, Anderson

Coach of the Year

Todd Hay, Anderson

-#MakeSACYours-