Hegarty Named To AVCA All-Region Team; Giordano And Heise Earn Honorable Mention Awards
Dec 6 | Volleyball
LEXINGTON, Ky. (SMU/AVCA) – Katie Hegarty was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Southeast Region team, while Janelle Giordano and Morgan Heise earned Honorable Mention awards.
Hegarty led the Mustangs with 461 kills, the most at SMU since Rachel Giubilato scored 568 kills in 2006 to earn the program's first All-Region accolade with an All-Midwest Region Honorable Mention selection. The junior from Aztec, N.M., recorded the league's first triple-double and the sixth in program history with 22 kills, 12 digs and 10 blocks in a win against Tulane, and scored a career-high 23 kills in a three-set win over Little Rock. Hegarty scored 20 kills in a 3-1 win against TCU.
The opposite hitter finished the year with a .251 attack percentage, and recorded 197 digs, posting four double-doubles in addition to the triple-double. She also scored 14 kills in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Texas A&M, and had 11 kills against No. 4 Texas in the second round.
Heise, who was named to the All-Region team in 2015, was named American Athletic Conference Libero of the Year for the third straight season after leading the league with 626 digs, 12th in the NCAA this season. The senior set a school and conference record with 2,379 digs, matching Georgia Southern's Alex Beecher for the active lead among NCAA Division I liberos. Heise had just one reception error during conference matches, going 20 straight matches without a reception error, and committed just 10 on the season. The Hempstead, Texas, native had a season-high 30 digs at Tulane, and recorded 27 in a 3-1 win at TCU. She eclipsed 20 digs 15 times, including 20 in a 3-0 win against Texas A&M.
Giordano also was named to the 2015 All-Region team after earning honorable mention accolades in 2014. She finished her career with a program- and conference-record 623 blocks, finishing second among active leaders behind BYU's Whitney Young, who has 628 blocks. The Keller, Texas, native led the conference with 1.34 blocks per set as a senior, recording 162 this season, 13th in the NCAA. She scored 279 kills, including a season-high 19 against Tulane. Giordano also had 15 kills in a 3-2 win at home against Cincinnati. The middle blocker led SMU with a .329 attack percentage.
SMU won its second straight American Athletic Conference championship with an 18-2 record in league matches, a program record for conference wins, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 3-0 win against Texas A&M. The tournament win was the first in program and conference history. The Mustangs finished with a 26-8 record overall, one shy of matching the single-season record in wins. The 2016 senior class, which included Giordano and Heise, as well as all-conference award winner Kristen Stehling, won 101 matches, the most successful four-year span in program history. Over the past eight seasons, the Mustangs have earned 17 all-region awards, including three in each of the last three season. SMU has placed multiple student-athletes on the AVCA teams in six of the past eight seasons.
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Players Mentioned
Middle Blocker
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Opposite Hitter
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Libero
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Middle Blocker
/ VolleyballTuesday, September 22
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