Thursday, November 17, 2016
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The 2016 WAC volleyball award winners, as selected by the league’s eight head coaches, were announced tonight at the WAC Tournament banquet. CSU Bakersfield senior outside hitter Carol Grasso was named WAC Player of the Year, while NM State’s Ariadnne Sierra was named Libero of the Year and UMKC’s Kaylyn Brandt was named Setter of the Year. Meanwhile, Seattle U’s Katarina Marinkovic was named WAC Freshman of the Year and Utah Valley’s Sam Atoa was named WAC Coach of the Year.
Grasso earned WAC Player of the Year honors after leading the league in kills (4.47), service aces (0.87) and points (5.59) and ranking eighth in digs (3.06) in WAC play. She also set the all-time WAC records for service aces (46) and service aces per set in a single season for WAC matches only and posted double-doubles in eight of 14 WAC matches. She was named WAC Player of the Week twice during the season.
Sierra earned WAC Libero of the Year honors after averaging 4.65 digs, 0.87 assists and 0.45 service aces per set in WAC play. She posted double-digit digs in 13 of 14 WAC matches, with 30 or more digs once and 20 or more digs five times. She was the only libero to earn WAC Player of the Week honors during the season.
Brandt earned WAC Setter of the Year honors after leading the league with 11.17 assists per set in conference play. She set the Roos to the best hitting percentage in the WAC (.241) during conference play and posted double-doubles in five of 14 WAC matches. She was named WAC Player of the Week once during the season.
Marinkovic earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors after ranking second in the league in service aces (0.51), third in points (4.41), fourth in kills (3.68) and 10th in hitting percentage (.261) during WAC play. She had four double-doubles on the season and all came in WAC matches.
Atoa led his team to tie for second place finish the WAC standings and the No. 2 seed in the WAC Tournament after being picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll. His team ranks sixth nationally in blocking and enter the tournament having won five straight matches and 11 of its last 13.
2016 WAC Volleyball Postseason Award Winners
| First Team | School | Yr. | Pos. |
| Jordan Abalos | NM State | Jr. | OH |
| Tatyana Battle | NM State | So. | OH |
| Madison Dennison | Utah Valley | Jr. | MB |
| Carol Grasso | CSU Bakersfield | Sr. | OH |
| Emma Hagedorn | UMKC | Sr. | MH |
| Bojana Mitrovic | UT Rio Grande Valley | Jr. | RS |
| Madison Mosier | UMKC | Sr. | OH/RS |
| Second Team | School | Yr. | Pos. |
| Kaylyn Brandt | UMKC | Sr. | S |
| Sydney Haynes | CSU Bakersfield | Jr. | MB |
| Katarina Marinkovic | Seattle U | F | OH |
| Ariadnne Sierra | NM State | Jr. | L |
| Sasha-Lee Thomas | NM State | Jr. | MH |
| Lexi Thompson | Utah Valley | Jr. | OH |
| Alisha Watson | UT Rio Grande Valley | Sr. | RS |
| All-Freshmen Team | School | Pos. |
| Alicia Harrington | UMKC | OH |
| Izzie Hinton | Utah Valley | RS |
| Katarina Marinkovic | Seattle U | OH |
| Alexsa Parker | NM State | S |
| Barbara Silva | UT Rio Grande Valley | MB |
| Kory White | Seattle U | MB |
WAC Player of the Year: Carol Grasso, CSU Bakersfield
WAC Libero of the Year: Ariadnne Sierra, NM State
WAC Setter of the Year: Kaylyn Brandt, UMKC
WAC Freshman of the Year: Katarina Marinkovic, Seattle U
WAC Coach of the Year: Sam Atoa, Utah Valley
Monday, November 14, 2016
WAC Player of the Week
DENVER – NM State sophomore outside hitter Tatyana Battle has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 31-Nov. 6. This is her first-ever WAC Player of the Week honor.
The Albuquerque, N.M., native had a career night, posting her seventh double-double of the season in a crucial road win at UT Rio Grande Valley to give the Aggies at least a share of the WAC regular-season title. Battle posted a career-high 28 kills on .333 hitting to go with a career-high 18 digs in a 3-2 victory over the Vaqueros. The sophomore also added three blocks and a service ace in the win. However, it was her six kills in the fifth set that propelled the Aggies to the road victory. Battle entered the week averaging 3.60 points, 3.13 kills, 2.11 digs and 0.26 blocks per set. Last week she nearly doubled her production, averaging 6.20 points, 5.60 kills, 3.60 digs and 0.60 blocks per set.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield’s Kate Dunbar-Lowe averaged 4.00 kills on .500 hitting, 0.50 digs and 0.50 blocks per set as the Roadrunners went 2-0 last week ... Randahl Powers of Grand Canyon finished with 19 kills in a win over Chicago State to snap an 18-match losing skid ... UT Rio Grande Valley’s Alisha Watson averaged 2.33 kills, 1.00 digs and 0.67 blocks per set as the Vaqueros went 0-2 last week ... Sierra Starley of Utah Valley averaged 9.38 assists, 2.38 digs, 1.38 blocks, 1.00 kills and 0.50 service aces per set as the Wolverines went 2-0 on the week.
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