Four Blazers Earn Women's Volleyball All-NECC Honors

Four Blazers Earn Women's Volleyball All-NECC Honors

MARSHFIELD, Mass. – Four Elms College women’s volleyball players earned All-New England Collegiate Conference recognition, headlined by first-team All-NECC selection Dakota Stewart (Victoria, Texas). Kianna Lozada (Bayamon, P.R.), Danielle Redding (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Ayanna Meadows (Springfield, Mass.) were voted to the All-NECC second-team by the league’s head coaches.

Stewart, the 2017 NECC Rookie of the Year, led the NECC with 7.94 assists per set in the regular season. She also ranked seventh in the conference with 0.60 service aces per set after dealing 42 aces during the 2018 season. Stewart set Elms to a .161 hitting percentage in league games, the second-best in the conference.

Redding, who broke the Elms career kills record and became the first player in program history to amass 1,000 career kills in 2018, finished third in the NECC with 3.15 kills per set for the season. She hit .157 and racked up 230 kills, 153 digs and 35 aces during the regular season.

Meadows added 2.32 kills per set, the ninth-best average in the NECC, to the Blazer offense. She also finished with 269 digs and 49 aces in 2018.

Lozada led the NECC in digs per set during her freshman campaign, finishing with league-bests 6.18 digs per set overall 6.62 in conference play. She had 346 digs in all and added 11 aces and 42 assists on the season.

Elms freshman Sabrina Christie represents the Blazers on the All-NECC Sportsmanship Team.

The Blazers compiled an 8-1 conference record to finish in a tie for first place. Elms picked up the second seed in this week’s NECC tournament by virtue of a tie-breaker, and will host seventh-seeded Dean College on Oct. 30 at 7:00 p.m. in the NECC quarterfinals.

Player of the Year - Liv Sowles, Southern Vermont
Defensive Player of the Year - Heidy Benitez, Southern Vermont
Rookie of the Year - Ruth Aguilar, Eastern Nazarene
Coach of the Year - Pat Robidoux, Southern Vermont 

First Team All-NECC
Ruth Aguilar, Eastern Nazarene (Fr., S/OH, Tegucigalpa, Honduras)
Courtney McCarthy, Eastern Nazarene (Jr., OH, Merrimack, N.H.)
Dakota Stewart, Elms (So., S, Victoria, Texas)
Tihani Ehia, New England College (Fr., OH, Kaneohe, Hawaii)
Heidy Benitez, Southern Vermont (Jr., DS/S, Tulare, Calif.)
Liv Sowles, Southern Vermont (Jr., OH/OPP, Sacramento, Calif.)

Second Team All-NECC
Lydia Clifford, Bay Path (Fr., M, Coventry, R.I)
Kianna Lozada, Elms (Fr., L, Bayamon, P.R.)
Danielle Redding, Elms (Sr., OH, Las Vegas, N.V.)
Ayanna Meadows, Elms (So. ATK, Springfield, Mass.)
Maile Counts, Lesley (Fr., S, Vista, Calif.)
Dreka Griffin, New England Col. (So., MH, Calera, Ala.) 

Third Team All-NECC
Joanna Bampi, Becker (Fr., L, Peabody, Mass.)
Kayla Dupree, Becker (Sr., MB/OH, North Bergen, N.J.)
Kaitlyn Anderson, Dean (Jr. MB, Clinton, Conn.)
Cassidy Wygonik, Lesley (Jr., OH, Madison, Conn.)
Cameron Childs, Mitchell (Fr., S, Gainesville, Fla.)
Meg Maddalena, Southern Vermont (Jr., MB/OPP, Portola, Calif.)

All-NECC Sportsmanship Team
Lexi Cears, Bay Path (Sr., Agawam, Mass.)
Sofia Cullina, Becker (Jr., Deep River, Conn.)  
Tara Griffith, Dean (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.)
Samantha Caldwell, Eastern Nazarene (So., Quincy, Mass.)
Sabrina Christie, Elms (Fr., Agawam, Mass.)
Amy Dai, Lesley (So., Milton, Mass.)
Ariana Carter, Mitchell (Jr., Central Falls, R.I.)
Sophia Ortiz, Newbury (Fr., Arlington, Tenn.)
Logan Wheeler, Southern Vermont (Fr., Red Bluff, Calif.)