The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference announced its 2014 All-CACC volleyball teams and the Wilmington University volleyball team placed a member on the first team, a member on the second team, and a major award winner.
Freshman Erin Bistany (Greenbelt, Md./St. John's College) was named the CACC Rookie of the Year and earned a spot on the First Team while sophomore Allison Briley (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) earned a spot on the Second Team, in a vote by the league's head coaches.
It is the second year in a row that the Wildcats (19-13, 15-4 CACC) have the CACC Rookie of the Year on their squad, as Briley earned the award last year.
Bistany leads the Wildcats with a .237 attack percentage while averaging 1.72 kills per set. She collected a season high 14 kills against Post while also finishing with 13 against Franklin Pierce and again at Holy Family.
The freshman has been most impressive at the net defensively, averaging 0.99 blocks per set on the season, and leads the CACC with a 1.24 blocks per set average in CACC matches only. Bistany collected a season's best nine block assists against Goldey-Beacom and a season's best 19 points at Holy Family with 13 kills and six blocks.
Bistany has been named the CACC Rookie of the Week four times this season, being honored by the conference office on September 29, October 20, October 28, and November 10.
Briley leads the team's offensive attack for the Wildcats, leading the team in averaging 2.99 kills per set. She is hitting .229 as an outside hitter, committing just 110 errors on 1125 attacks. She is 10th in CACC matches only by hitting .267 on the outside.
The sophomore has collected double digit kills in all but nine of the team's 32 contests this season, hitting a new career high 20 kills at Bloomfield. Hit a season's best .526 with 10 kills and no errors on 19 attempts at USciences. Briley picked up six double-doubles on the season, five straight from October 25 to November 4.
Briley was also recently named to the Capital One Academic All-District 1 team and is now nominated for the Capital One Academic All-America Team, voted on by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Post's Skylar German was voted as the CACC Player of the Year while Caldwell's Jaclyn Del Cid was voted as the CACC Defensive Player of the Year. Post's head coach Michael Brienza was voted as the CACC Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to a No. 2 seed in the North Division. Nyack College earned the CACC Team Sportsmanship Award.
The Wildcats begin their journey in the CACC Tournament on Tuesday with a home match against the North Division's No. 3 seed Dominican. The Wildcats earned a share of the CACC South Division Regular Season Championship and earned the No. 2 seed in the south for the Tournament. The winner of Tuesday's match moves on to the CACC Tournament Semifinals hosted by Georgian Court in Lakewood, N.J.
Tuesday's CACC Quarterfinal match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start. Since the game is a postseason event, admission will be sold at the door. Tickets for adults will be $6.00 and student $3.00. Wilmington students with a valid I.D. will be admitted into the match for free.
AGATE:
2014 Volleyball All-CACC Teams:
First Team:
OH – McKenzie John (Dominican)
OH – Tatiana Rodriguez (Georgian Court)
MH – Skylar German (Post)
MH – Erin Bistany (Wilmington)
MH – Kayla Dexter (Dominican)
L – Jaclyn Del Cid (Caldwell)
S – Julia Slyaktina (Post)
Second Team:
OH – Kadi McCoy (Goldey-Beacom)
OH – Allison Briley (Wilmington)
OH – Chelsea Hughes (Philadelphia)
MH – Narae Wadsworth (Caldwell)
MH – Jhoan Agosto Rivera (Georgian Court)
L – Regina Trabosh (Chestnut Hill)
S – Kelsey Oliver (Georgian Court)
2014 CACC Player of the Year: Skylar German (Post)
2014 CACC Rookie of the Year: Erin Bistany (Wilmington)
2014 CACC Defensive Player of the Year: Jaclyn Del Cid (Caldwell)
2014 CACC Coach of the Year: Michael Brienza (Post)
2014 CACC Team Sportsmanship Award: Nyack College