ECAC Announces 2016 Division II Women's Volleyball All-Stars
DANBURY, Conn. - The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) has announced its 2016 Division II Women's Volleyball All-Star team.
Gannon University senior Hannah Kren garnered the Offensive Player of the Year honor, while Caldwell University junior Jessica Mitchell received Defensive Player of the Year. Pace University freshman Danielle Vaiano was named Rookie of the Year, and Gannon University Head Coach Matt Darling was awarded Coach of the Year.
Kren was named to the Conference Commissioner's Association (CCA) All-Atlantic Region first team. The senior has earned CCA All-Region honors three consecutive seasons with first-team selections as a sophomore and a senior. She has also been selected to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Atlantic Region first team the last two seasons. Kren is averaging 3.09 kills and 3.40 digs through 105 sets in 32 matches. She is hitting .194 with a .950 reception percentage, committing only 30 errors in 595 serve receives. She also recorded 12 double-doubles to push her career total to 69. Kren is currently ranked second all-time at Gannon in points (1,819.5), second in digs (1,543) and sixth in kills (1,606). The senior was voted the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Athlete of the Year.
Mitchell was named the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Defensive Player of the Year and received CACC Third Team All-Conference honors. She averaged 5.68 digs per set this season and totaled 630 digs so far this season. The junior leads the CACC in total digs and is second in digs per set. She is also a two-time CACC Defensive Player of the Week.
Vaiano landed a spot on both the Northeast-10 (NE-10) Second Team and All-Rookie Team after being one of the top liberos in the conference throughout her freshman season. Her 673 digs and 5.96 digs per set rank second among the NE-10 despite playing in just 28 of Pace's 31 matches. This places Vaiano in the top three on Pace's single-season dig rankings. She has been named NE-10 Libero of the Week three times, NE-10 Rookie of the Week once, ECAC Defensive Player of the Week four times and ECAC Rookie of the Week twice.
Darling claims his third PSAC Coach of the Year award. He has guided the Lady Knights to eight consecutive NCAA and PSAC tournament appearances. Gannon stands 30-3 so far this season with a 13 game win streak. Darling led Gannon to the PSAC Northwest Division championship and the top seed in the PSAC tournament.
2016 ECAC Division II Women's Volleyball All-Star Team
Offensive Player of the Year
Hannah Kren, Sr., Gannon University
Defensive Player of the Year
Jessica Mitchell, Jr., Caldwell University
Rookie of the Year
Danielle Vaiano, Fr., Pace University
Coach of the Year
Matt Darling, Gannon University
First Team
Claudia Fontanet, So., Pace University
Melissa Rigo, Gr., Adelphi University
Katrina Janssen, Jr., Caldwell University
Tiffany Verni, So., New York Institute of Technology
Karolina Moderova, Jr., New York Institute of Technology
Allison Fowler, Jr., New York Institute of Technology
Jessica Mitchell, Jr., Caldwell University
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