Post-season awards for BHS volleyball team announced
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Sophomore setter Britney Sahlmann has earned All-State honors for the Bryant Lady Hornets volleyball team in the 2013 season. In addition, juniors Mercedes Dillard and Abby Staton along with sophomores Allie Anderson and Whitney Brown have been selected all-conference.
Sahlmann was also named to the all-State Tournament team and was named the team’s Most Valuable Player.
“She encompassed all the attributes that we set forth for this team,” said Lady Hornets coach Beth Solomon. “She’s someone that, not only the coaches, but her fellow players look to to pull us through games and get the job done.”
Solomon noted that she and assistant Christi Meyer asked coaches from other teams to help them choose the MVP.
Solomon announced a number of team awards as well. The Coach’s Award went to Dillard and Dejai Kelley.
“We wanted to give out two awards this year to players that we felt like were the most coachable during the season,” she said. “Players that we felt like would listen to what we said and put it into action on the court without having to be told things more than once.”
The team’s Leadership Award went to junior Nikki Clay and sophomore Kaci Squires.
“These two young ladies seemed to really strive to abide by our Hornet L.A.W.S. (Leadership, Attitude, Work Ethic, and Skills), which we’ve established for the Bryant volleyball program,” Solomon related.
Sophomore Shayla McKissock was selected for the Hustle Award.
“This award goes to a player that we knew we could count on to give 110 percent every time she got on the floor,” said the coach. “In fact, even through her injury, she busted her butt to get back on the court with her team.”
Kelley was named the Most Improved Award recipient.
“Dejai was, quite possibly, the biggest surprise to us at tryouts last spring,” Solomon stated. “She has worked her way up to showing so much improvement that she ended up playing varsity for us after injuries this season. Not only did she work up to varsity, but she was able to transition from middle (hitter) to outside for us with no arguments or complaints.”
Statistical awards were also handed out. The Serving Award for the top serving percentage for varsity went to Clay and, for the junior varsity, Mariah Aguilar. Clay was good on 96.5 percent of her serves; Aguilar on 89.5 percent.
The Serving Award for percentage for aces minus errors per attempt. For the varsity, the award went to Kelley at 40 percent. For the JV, it was Rylee Phillips (50 percent).
Sahlmann earned the award for most service aces with 64. Savannah Shelton picked up the JV award with 24.
Two hitting awards were handed out. One was for highest percentage of kills minus errors per attempt. For the varsity, it was Sahlmann at 26 percent. For the JV , it was Kaci Squires at 40 percent. The second award was for the highest percentage of kills per attempt. Sierra Jones topped the varsity with 32.4 percent; Squires for the JV at 46.7 percent.
For total number of kills, the awards went to Anderson (213) for the varsity and Kelley for the JV (49).
The Blocker Award went to Sahlmann (21.5) and Kelley (7.5).
Of the Passing Award, Solomon said, “This goes to the player with the highest passing average. Passes are done on a 0-3 scale. A 3 would be a pass that results in the setter having three different options to set the ball. It’s what we commonly call a ‘perfect pass.’”
Dillard had the top average for the varsity at 2.30 per game. Shelton had the top average for the JV at 2.33.
Brown won the varsity Dig Award with 200 digs. Squires was tops among the JV with 14.
Sahlmann won the Setter Award with 496 for the varsity. Shelton had 130 to earn the JV award. Back-up Setter Awards were bestowed on Sierra Jones for the varsity with 20 and Skylar Harper with 13 for the JV.
Despite the fact that there were no seniors on the Lady Hornets team this season, they earned a bid to the Class 7A State Tournament, losing in the first round to the host team, Cabot.
