Dec 04, 2024

🏐 KU volleyball players win league awards

Posted Dec 04, 2024 12:30 PM
Image Courtesy KU Athletics
Image Courtesy KU Athletics

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Six members of Kansas Volleyball have earned All Big 12 for their impressive regular season performances, including Reese Ptacek as the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and Caroline Bien as the Big 12 Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Camryn Turner, Toyosi Onabanjo and Ayah Elnady all joined Ptacek on the First Team, while Bien and London Davis were named Second Team All Big 12. Ptacek also earned a unanimous nod to the All Rookie Team.

Ptacek finished third among all Big 12 players with 1.27 blocks per set during the season. The freshman had the highest hitting percentage in a single regular season league match this season, hitting .813 on Oct. 12 against Cincinnati. Ptacek tied for the second most blocks by a Big 12 player in a match this season with 11 against K-State on Oct. 17.

Bien is Kansas' fourth Scholar-Athlete of the Year award winner and first since 2021. The native of Overland Park, Kansas is a senior majoring in accounting with a 4.0 GPA. Bien averaged 3.22 digs per set and 2.54 kills per set during the season while helping lead Kansas to 15 league wins and a 13th overall trip to the NCAA Championship. She was one of four Jayhawks to appear in all 100 sets of the regular season.

Turner, the Big 12 assists/set leader, earned her second-consecutive First Team All Big 12 award. The senior out of Topeka is also No. 3 in the NCAA in assists/set, ending the regular season with an 11.40 average. She was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week once this season, and is an AVCA National Player of the Year semifinalist for the first time in her career. After Kansas, Turner will head to Michigan, as she was the first of three setters to be drafted in this year's PVF draft. She went to the Grand Rapids Rise in the third round as the No. 22 pick overall.

Onabanjo secured her first-career Big 12 accolade as she ended the regular season with the third-best hitting percentage in the Big 12 at .399. The Houston native also posts the No. 4 block average in the conference with 1.21 blocks per set. When the AVCA first announced their Player of the Year Watchlist, Onabanjo was named to that early season list with her counterpart Turner. Onabanjo was drafted in the first round of the PVF draft as the No. 8 pick overall, and she will head to Omaha to play for the league-leading Supernovas.

Elnady earned her spot on the first team for the second-consecutive season, as she led Kansas in kills per set with 3.24. She was one of four Jayhawks to appear in all 100 sets of the regular season, and is on a nine-match double-double streak where she has recorded double-digit kills and digs in every match since Texas Tech on October 30. The senior from Cairo, Egypt also racked up 35 aces on the year, and will be looking to add to her postseason accolades by matching last season's AVCA First Team All Region nod.

Davis rounds things out on the second team for a second season in a row. She had another strong regular season, playing 99 sets for the Jayhawks and hitting .309 on the year so far. Davis has racked up 266 kills, the second most of all Jayhawks, and 76 total blocks as well. The Galena, Ohio native has contributed 305.5 points, which is the second-highest number at Kansas.