Big East Conference

BIG EAST Volleyball Annual Awards Announced

11/23/2016 11:57:34 AM

2016 BIG EAST Volleyball Regular Season Awards has repeat winners in Seton Hall’s Tessa Fournier as Libero of the Year for the third straight time and Creighton repeating as Coaching Staff of the Year

NEW YORK  –  The BIG EAST Conference announced its annual all-conference and major award winners on Wednesday, preceding the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship presented by Jeep, which will take place Nov. 25-26 in Indianapolis, Ind. Headlining the league’s major awards were Creighton junior setter Lydia Dimke, who was voted BIG EAST Player of the Year, and Seton Hall senior Tessa Fournier, who repeats as Libero of the Year for the third consecutive year. This year, for the first time there are Co-Freshman of the Year with Marquette outside hitter Allie Barber and St. John’s setter Erica Di Maulo sharing the honor.  Repeating as Coaching Staff of the Year was back-to-back-to-back regular season champions Creighton, led by Kirsten Bernthal Booth.
 
Ten of the 14 All-BIG EAST First Team performers will be competing in the BIG EAST Championship that starts Friday with the semifinals at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. All four BIG EAST Championship teams are represented on the All-BIG EAST First Team. Eight of the league’s 10 teams are represented on first team.
 
Of the tournament participants, Creighton placed three on the All-BIG EAST First Team and two on the second team. Marquette, which tied with Xavier for runner up in the league standings, had the most student-athletes on the first team with four. The Musketeers had two on the first team. Seton Hall had one on the first team and one on the second team.
 
Additionally, Butler, DePaul, St. John’s and Villanova each had a first team honoree.

This year, there were 14 players named to the All-BIG EAST First Team and five on the Second Team due to a league voting policy. Of the 14-member first team, five were unanimous selections and three were repeat unanimous selections from 2015. Coaches were not allowed to vote from their own players. The All-BIG EAST volleyball teams are non-positional.
 
Dimke is the second junior in as many years to earn the BIG EAST Player of the Year title. The setter was also a unanimous selection to the all-conference first team. Dimke, one of four team captains on Creighton’s squad played at Purdue before transferring to Creighton in January 2016. She led the team with 15 double-doubles and led the BIG EAST, and was 11th nationally, in assists per set (11.6). She averaged 2.8 digs per set and 0.61 blocks per set in league play while helping the Bluejays to an undefeated 18-0 record. Dimke also boasted a .357 attack percentage. In her debut with Creighton against Wichita State (Aug. 26), she became one of six players in Creighton history with at least 20 assists and 20 digs in the same match. She was named to the Iowa State Challenge and Bluejay Invitational All-Tournament Teams and was BIG EAST Player of the Week on Nov. 7. She had a conference season-high 51 assists in a five-set win to end the regular season against Villanova (Nov. 20).  The last setter named BIG EAST Player of the Year was Elizabeth Koberstein from Marquette in 2013. 
 
Fournier becomes only the second player in BIG EAST history to win Libero of the Year three times, joining St. John’s Lena Yee (2006-08), as Seton Hall takes home Libero of the Year honors for the fifth consecutive season.  Former Pirate Alyssa Warren won the prestigious honor in back-to-back seasons prior to Fournier.  Additionally, Ann Marie Lucanie from Pittsburgh was the only three-peat for BIG EAST Player of the Year (1991-93). Fournier had another dominant defensive season, leading the BIG EAST in digs per set (5.03) for a third consecutive season. She recorded at least 20 digs in a single-match 14 times in 2016, including a season-high 33 digs vs. Butler on Sept. 23. She completed the regular season with 22 digs in only three sets in a must-win match vs. St. John’s on Nov. 19 to help Seton Hall earn the fourth spot in the tournament, and earning to BIG EAST Player of the Week honors. Fournier’s 533 digs this season is the eighth-highest single-season total in Seton Hall history.  She now possesses the eighth, fifth and first positions on that list.  She also moved into second place on the Pirates’ career digs list becoming only the second Pirate to record more than 2,000 digs.
 
Barber, co-Freshman of the Year, averaged 2.20 kills per set in BIG EAST matches this season and compiled a .318 hitting percentage, which ranked 11th in the league and Marquette to a share of second place in the league standings and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming tournament.  Overall, the Cedarburg, Wisconsin, native was fourth on the Golden Eagles with 1.91 kills through 30 games played this season. Barber was on the All-BIG EAST honor roll after helping Marquette to a pair of five-set wins over Butler and DePaul  with 2.65 points, 2.30 kills while hitting .367.
 
Co-Freshman of the Year Di Maulo distributed 1,162 assists this season, currently ranking her in the top 10 nationally among freshmen. Her efforts also earned her a place in the St. John’s record book, as her assists were the second-most ever by a newcomer and ninth-highest total in the 23-year history of the program overall. In non-conference play, Di Maulo found a spot on the all-tournament teams in all four of the Red Storm’s tournaments. Poised throughout the year, the Milan, Italy native controlled a Red Storm offense that boasted five players with more than 150 kills. Di Maulo was fourth in league play with 10.04 assist per game. She was BIG EAST Freshman of the Week twice this year.
 
Booth and the Creighton staff earned their second BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year honors, leading Creighton to its third-straight BIG EAST regular season title. Booth led the Bluejays to the fourth regular-season conference title in the last five years, as Creighton became the first team to go 18-0 in league play and was the 12th undefeated team in BIG EAST history. Notre Dame was the last to complete the feat in 2009 at 14-0. Booth and her assistants Angie Oxley Behrens, Ryan Meek and Micah Rhodes led Creighton to a national ranking for four-straight weeks to finish the regular season 21st in the country, 18th in RPI. The all-time winningest coach in Creighton volleyball history, Booth owns a 284-152 record in her 14th season with the Bluejays. Creighton is 37-1 against BIG EAST teams in the last two years.
 
Joining Dimke, Fournier, Barber and Di Maulo on the All-BIG EAST First Team were many familiar names, including unanimous picks Xavier’s Abbey Bessler, the 2015 BIG EAST Player of the Year; Marquette sophomore outside hitter Taylor Louis and 2015 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year, Creighton’s Jaali Winters. All three were unanimous first team selections in 2015. Butler sophomore outside hitter Anna Logan was also a unanimous vote. Louis, Logan, Winters and Bessler were the top four in kills per set in league play this season with 4.50, 4.27, 3.70 and 3.66 kills per set, respectively.
 
Other repeats on the first team from 2015 were a pair of middle hitters, Villanova junior Allie Loitz and Marquette redshirt senior Meghan Niemann. Xavier’s Sofia Peterson, who was on the 2015 second team as a right side hitter made the first team cut in her final year.
 
In addition to Winters and Louis, three other sophomores made the first team with Creighton’s outside hitter Taryn Kloth, DePaul’s right side hitter Brittany Maxwell and Marquette’s middle hitter Jenna Rosenthal.
 
On the All-BIG EAST Second Team was Jasmine King from DePaul, Danielle Shroeder from Seton Hall, Lauren Smith and Marysa Wilkinson from Creighton, Symone Speech from Georgetown.
 
The 2016 BIG EAST regular season awards and all-conference teams are listed below. The all-league teams are listed alphabetically.
 
2016 Volleyball All-BIG EAST Team and Major Awards
BIG EAST Player of the Year
Lydia Dimke, Creighton, Jr., S
 
BIG EAST Libero of the Year
Tessa Fournier, Seton Hall, Jr., L ##
 
BIG EAST Co-Freshman of the Year
Allie Barber, Marquette, Fr., OH
Erica Di Maulo, St. John’s, Fr., S
 
BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year
Creighton (Head Coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth) #
 
All-BIG EAST First Team ^
Allie Barber, Marquette, Fr., OH
Abbey Bessler, Xavier, Sr., OH *
Erica Di Maulo, St. John’s, Fr. Setter
Lydia Dimke, Creighton, Jr., Setter *
Tessa Fournier, Seton Hall, Sr., Libero
Taryn Kloth, Creighton, So., OH
Anna Logan, Butler, So. OH *
Allie Loitz, Villanova, Jr., MB
Taylor Louis, Marquette, RS-So., OH *
Brittany Maxwell, DePaul, So., RS
Meghan Niemann, Marquette, RS-Sr., MB
Sofia Peterson, Xavier, RS-Sr., RS
Jenna Rosenthal, Marquette, RS-So., MB
Jaali Winters, Creighton, So., OH *
 
All-BIG EAST Second Team ^
Jasmine King, DePaul, Sr., MB
Danielle Schroeder, Seton Hall, Sr., RS
Lauren Smith, Creighton, RS-Sr., MB
Symone Speech, Georgetown, So., MB
Marysa Wilkinson, Creighton, Jr., MB/RS
 
## - 2014 & 2015 BIG EAST Libero of the Year
# - 2015 BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year
* - denotes a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team
^ - there is a 14-member All-BIG EAST First Team and five-member All-BIG EAST Second Team due to voting policy