BIG EAST Volleyball Annual Awards Announced
Marquette took home three of the major awards announced: Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coaching Staff of the Year. Creighton’s Brittany Witt earned the Bluejays’ first Libero of the Year accolade.
NEW YORK – The BIG EAST Conference announced its annual volleyball all-conference and major award winners on Wednesday, preceding the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship presented by Jeep, which will take place Nov. 24-25 in Milwaukee, Wis. Marquette led the way with three of the four honorees. Golden Eagle sophomore outside hitter Allie Barber was voted BIG EAST Player of the Year, teammate Hope Werch was named Freshman of the Year and the Golden Eagles staff, headed by Ryan Theis, earned Coaching Staff of the Year accolades. Creighton sophomore Brittany Witt earned Libero of the Year honors, a first for the Bluejays.
Along with the major awards, the BIG EAST also announced the all-conference first and second teams. Ten of the 14 All-BIG EAST First Team honorees will be competing in the BIG EAST Championship that starts Friday with the semifinals at the Al McGuire Center. All four BIG EAST Championship teams, Butler, Creighton, Marquette and Villanova, were represented on the All-BIG EAST First Team. Seven of the league’s 10 teams are represented on the first team.
BIG EAST Player of the Year Barber was one of three unanimous selections to the All-BIG EAST First Team. She was also the 2016 BIG EAST Co-Freshman of the Year and is the third player in Marquette history to earn Player of the Year honors and the second to win Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in consecutive campaigns after Autumn Bailey earned the honors in 2013 and 2014. The Cedarburg, Wis. native led the conference with 4.83 kills per set all matches, a stellar 5.28 kills in BIG EAST matches and was fifth, hitting at a .351 clip. She also led in points per set tallying 5.20 and was named ACVA/Sports Imports National Player of the Week on Oct. 31. The outside hitter was BIG EAST Player of the Week five times this season. Barber was also on the 2016 All-BIG EAST First Team.
Werch, a Neenah, Wis. native, is the second-straight BIG EAST Freshman of the Year honoree for the Golden Eagles. She opened her first collegiate season averaging 2.25 kills per set with 2.67 digs per contest. Werch ranked in the top-25 in hitting percentage with a .232 mark and was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on three occasions.
Libero of the Year Witt, an Omaha native and All-BIG EAST First Team honoree, won BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week honors five times over the course of this season. Witt averaged 4.53 digs per set in league play, a BIG EAST best this season. Overall, Witt averaged 4.25 digs per set, second most amongst league players. Witt led a Creighton defense that ranked No. 1 in league games for kills allowed (11.16) and hitting percentage allowed (.164) and was second in service aces allowed (0.78). In all games played, Creighton ranked first in service aces allowed (0.69) and kills allowed (11.97) and second in opponent hitting percentage (.181). Witt played in 64 sets during the course of league action and averaged 1.17 assists per set with 13 aces. Overall, Witt appeared in 104 sets with 27 aces and 1.04 assists per frame, helping Creighton take home their fourth-straight BIG EAST regular season title.
Marquette head coach Theis, along with assistant coaches Meghan Keck and Ryan Lengerich, guided the Golden Eagles to a 15-3 record in BIG EAST play, the best mark for the squad since 2013. The Golden Eagles led the league with 13.51 assists per set and in service aces (1.46), while ranking a close second in kills with 14.29 per contest. Theis is in his fourth year at the helm of Marquette, the No. 2 seed in the upcoming tournament. He has successfully guided Marquette to a tournament berth in each of those years and has put together a 55-18 BIG EAST record.
No. 1 seed Creighton had the most players on the All-BIG EAST First Team with four. In addition to Witt, senior setter Lydia Dimke, senior middle blocker Marysa Wilkinson and junior outside hitter Jaali Winters earned first-team accolades. Winters was a unanimous vote to the first team and is a three-time All-BIG EAST First Team selection.
Butler, the No. 3 seed in the upcoming tournament had three honorees: senior setter Makayla Ferguson, junior middle blocker Bri Lilly and unanimous pick, junior outside hitter Anna Logan. Lilly was the BIG EAST leader in hitting percentage (.426) and blocks (1.14).
Second-seeded Marquette boasted redshirt junior Jenna Rosenthal to the All-BIG EAST First Team in addition to Barber.
Senior outside hitter Allie Loitz made her third consecutive appearance on the first team and represented the No. 4 seed Villanova.
Also on the first team from Georgetown is junior middle blocker Symone Speech, from St. John’s sophomore setter Erica Di Maulo and Seton Hall junior outside hitter Abby Thelen.
Logan, Dimke, Barber, Rosenthal and Di Maulo were all members of the 2016 All-BIG EAST First Team.
The 2017 BIG EAST regular season awards and all-conference teams are listed below. The all-league teams are listed alphabetically by school.
The All-BIG EAST teams and major awards were voted on by the league’s 10 head coaches. The coaches could not cast ballots for their own team or players.
2017 Volleyball All-BIG EAST Team and Major Awards
BIG EAST Player of the Year
Allie Barber, Marquette, So., OH
BIG EAST Libero of the Year
Brittany Witt, Creighton, So., L
BIG EAST Freshman of the Year
Hope Werch, Marquette, Fr., OH
BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year
Marquette (Head Coach Ryan Theis)
All-BIG EAST First Team ^
Makayla Ferguson, Butler, Sr., S
Bri Lilly, Butler, Jr., MB
Anna Logan, Butler, Jr., OH *
Lydia Dimke, Creighton, Sr., S
Marysa Wilkinson, Creighton, Sr., MB
Jaali Winters, Creighton, Jr., OH *
Brittany Witt, Creighton, So., L
Symone Speech, Georgetown, Jr., MB
Allie Barber, Marquette, So., OH *
Jenna Rosenthal, Marquette, RS-Jr., MH
Erica Di Maulo, St. John’s, So., S
Abby Thelen, Seton Hall, Jr., OH
Allie Loitz, Villanova, Sr., OH
All-BIG EAST Second Team
Taryn Kloth, Creighton, Jr., OH
Brittany Maxwell, DePaul, Jr., RS
Lauren Speckman, Marquette, So., S
Addison Root, Providence, So., OH
Amanda Pedersen-Henry, Villanova, Jr., MB
* - denotes a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team
^ - there is a 13-member All-BIG EAST First Team and five-member All-BIG EAST Second Team due to voting policy