2018 Great Midwest Volleyball All-Conference Team (PDF)
HILLSDALE, Mich. – A total of 25 student-athletes were officially recognized as part of the 2018 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Volleyball All-Conference Team during the championship banquet at Hillsdale College.
The four remaining semifinalists -- Hillsdale, Findlay, Walsh, Lake Erie -- from the eight-team bracket gathered in the Dow Center for the traditional awards ceremony before Friday’s matches.
As voted upon by the league’s head coaches, 12 selections at various positions were made to the first and second teams while individual award winners were also unveiled.
The respective divisional champions from the regular season, Walsh (East) and Hillsdale (West) also stepped forward to accept their trophies and take some hardware back home.
Repeating as Great Midwest Player of the Year was Hillsdale senior right side Paige VanderWall after helping navigate the Chargers to an undefeated regular season through the league schedule.
Rarely in its six-year history has the league seen players of the year voted more than once on the ballot. Exceptions to the rule include Ursuline’s Laney Lewis (women’s basketball 2x player of the year), Malone’s Roscoe Blackburn (2x baseball pitcher of the year) and Mercyhurst’s Greg Weyl (2x men’s lacrosse defensive player of the year), just as examples.
The Chargers are the top overall seed in this year’s conference tournament bracket and have been regionally ranked in the Midwest Region for two weeks in a row.
VanderWall has averaged 4.03 kills per set to become the league leader entering the final two rounds of the playoffs, simply punishing opponents with a devastating lefty swing. The 5-10 senior is hitting a crisp .321 and coming up with over three digs per set.
Standing on the sidelines and helping VanderWall’s skill set continue to blossom was now two-time Great Midwest Coach of the Year Chris Gravel. Gravel’s 2018 squad led the conference in kills, assists, opponent hitting percentage and are going into Friday on a nine-game win streak.
Gravel’s Chargers have taken to task the challenge of playing six different nationally-ranked opponents this season and are unbeaten on their home floor this season at 11-0. Six different Hillsdale players under his watch made the all-conference team this year (five on the first team alone).
The all-conference first team was loaded with hitters, including Tiffin’s junior middle blocker and three-time West Division Player of the Week Jenna Huffman. Walsh two-time conference player of the week Lauren Loucks put together a stellar season and has the Cavaliers still alive in the playoffs. Dynamic senior setter Hailee Olson helped Findlay lead the league in hitting percentage as a team and the only other seniors on the first-team list included Hillsdale’s Kara Vyletel, VanderWall and Lake Erie’s Crystal Kedroske.
Findlay had strong representation on the second team with five selections. Adding another school to the mix in the West Division certainly changes the landscape of the voting. Playoff-qualifying Ursuline had two make the second team, outside hitter and two-time East player of the week Vikki Henderson and the league’s all-time leader in career assists, Katelyn Selleny.
The Great Midwest Freshman of the Year was Lake Erie’s Maria Blatnik. The rookie outside hitter played in all 32 of Lake Erie’s matches in the season to date, averaging 1.92 kills and ranking fourth on the Storm in points. She is also averaging over a half block per set while serving as a contributor to semifinal-bound LEC.
Semifinal action of the Great Midwest Championship will take place on Friday in Hillsdale’s Biermann Athletic Center. No. 1 Hillsdale (West) takes on No. 2 Lake Erie (East) with a 5 p.m. ET start time. Following will be No. 2 Findlay (West) vs. No. 1 Walsh (East).
The winners will play for the conference championship title and an automatic qualifying bid into the national tournament on Saturday with a start time of 5 p.m. ET.