W O M E N ’ S C O L L E G I A T E V O L L E Y B A L L
2015 AVCA NCAA Division I All-Americans
First Team Rhamat Alhassan (Florida) Samantha Bricio (Southern California) Lauren Carlini (Wisconsin) Alexa Gray (BYU) Ainise Havili (Kansas) Amy Neal (Texas) Chiaka Ogbogu (Texas) Kelsie Payne (Kansas) Kadie Rolfzen (Nebraska) Taylor Sandbothe (Ohio State) Daly Santana (Minnesota) Lianna Sybeldon (Washington) Hannah Tapp (Minnesota) Haleigh Washington (Penn State)
Second Team Jazzmin Babers (Texas A&M) Abby Cole (Michigan) Megan Courtney (Penn State) Annie Drews (Purdue) Hayley Hodson (Stanford) Merete Lutz (Stanford) Haleigh Nelson (Wisconsin) Caitlin Nolan (Iowa State) Alicia Ogoms (Southern California) Paulina Prieto Cerame (Texas) Amber Rolfzen (Nebraska) Samantha Seliger-Swenson (Minnesota) Nikki Taylor (Hawai’i) Aiyana Whitney (Penn State)
Third Team Amy Boswell (BYU) Madi Bugg, (Stanford) Elizabeth Campbell (Ohio State) Chloe Collins (Texas) Adrianna Culbert (Colorado State) Taylor Formico (UCLA) Alex Holston (Florida) Brittany Howard, (Stanford) Olivia Magill, (Hawaii) Molly McCage (Texas) Paige Neuenfeldt (UNC) Paige Tapp (Minnesota) Jaali Winters (Creighton) Justine Wong-Orantes (Nebraska)
2015 AVCA Players of the Year
NCAA Division I Samantha Bricio (University of Southern California)
NCAA Division II Preecy Seever (Rockhurst University)
NCAA Division III Allison Zastrow (Washington University - St. Louis)
NAIA Penny Liu (Columbia College)
Two-Year Colleges Sofi Kelemete (Parkland College)
NCCAA Sarah Hughey (Southern Wesleyan University)
48 | VOLLEYBALLUSA • Digital Issue at
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Kelsie Payne of Kansas helped the Jayhawks reach the NCAA semifinals and was named a First-Team AVCA All-American.
the platform angle. Sullivan, a two-time Olympian and a former UCLA All-Ameri- can, has helped a lot of Texas players change their passing form, and he has plenty to say on the subject. Considering his experience at every level of the game – he also coaches his daughter’s juniors team – it’s worth a listen. “I’m not a huge fan of how junior girls
are taught to pass,” he says. “Something we talk about in our gym all the time is, ‘Calm your feet down.’ But the feedback coaches often give junior volleyball players is, ‘Move your feet, move your feet.’ And then we get them in our gym and they’re moving their feet 40 different directions and getting them- selves in trouble instead of taking one half step and getting their arms out. It’s a brutal thing for us to try to fix. It drives me nuts. “If someone took 14 steps on their [hit-
ting] approach, we would have a conniption. But when they take seven little tiny steps to go five feet for passing, we’re OK with that. It’s mind-boggling. “The best thing [a young player] can do is watch Kayla Banwarth pass. She makes it look as easy as you can make it look. I show my players [videos of her passing] all the time and say, ‘Look how little she moves and how she gets the ball to behave the way she wants it to behave.’ That’s an eye opener for some of our players.”
See you again next year For college volleyball fans, the cool thing about the 2015 season is that so many of the principal players are returning in 2016. Minnesota loses its go-to hitter, Daly
Santana, but returns 14 of 16 players, includ- 2015 Collegiate Champions
NCAA Division II Wheeling Jesuit def. Palm Beach Atlantic 3-0
NCAA Division III Cal Lutheran def. Wittenberg 3-0
NAIA Columbia (Mo.) def. Missouri Baptist 3-0
NCCAA Indiana Wesleyan def. Oklahoma Baptist 3-0
NJCAA Parkland College def. Lincoln Land 3-0
CCCAA Cabrillo def. Los Angeles Pierce 3-1
NWAC Blue Mountain def. Clark College 3-1
ing twin middle blockers Hannah and Paige Tapp, who were both AVCA All-Americans. Back for Kansas are both first-team
AVCA All-Americans, Payne and Havili, and eight of the 10 players who saw action in Omaha. (Jayhawks Coach Ray Bechard says he’s planning to use Payne in the back row next year so she can add offense in more than just three rotations.) Texas loses Neal, middle blocker Molly
McCage and libero Kat Brooks, but among those back are super-athletic middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu, who was a first-team AVCA All-American this season for the second year in a row, setter Chloe Collins and power- house freshman Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani, who was dominant in Omaha: 15 kills for .583 in the win over Minnesota and 11 kills for .500 vs. the Huskers. Waiting to pounce
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