Big South Announces 2022 Volleyball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) –- High Point sophomore outside hitter
Sydney Palazzolo (Shelby Township, Mich.) has been voted the 2022 Big South Conference Volleyball Player of the Year, while Campbell head coach
Greg Goral was selected Coach of the Year by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this afternoon by the conference office. In addition, the coaches voted HPU’s
Ally Van Eekeren (Naperville, Ill.) the Setter of the Year, Campbell libero
Claranne Fechter (Powell, Ohio) the Defensive Player of the Year, and Winthrop setter
Isabella Murray (Norcross, Ga.) was voted Freshman of the Year. Charleston Southern’s
Peyton Thompson (Spartanburg, S.C.) was selected Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s sports information directors.
Palazzolo is the third consecutive Panther to be voted Big South Player of the Year, and HPU’s fourth honoree in the last five seasons. She appeared in 29 matches and played in 101 sets for the Panthers, and led the team and the Big South with 3.89 kills per set (393 total), 41 service aces and 4.45 points per set (449 total). Defensively, Palazzolo picked up 292 digs from the back row and collected 26 blocks at the net. She tallied a career-high 25 kills in the second meeting with Campbell and a season-high 22 digs versus Sacred Heart. Last season’s Freshman of the Year, Palazzolo netted 206 kills (3.96 per set), 27 service aces (0.52 per set), 242 points (4.65 per set), 156 digs (3.00 per set) and 16 blocks. A three-time Big South Player of the Week honoree in 2022, Palazzolo received four first-place votes and 139 total points in the voting to earn a spot on the All-Conference First-Team, and finished ahead of Campbell’s
Melody Paige (125 points and one first-place vote) and Winthrop’s
Alayna Jansky (121 points and one first-place vote) for Player of the Year honors.
Goral earns his first Big South Coach of the Year honor after leading the Camels to their first-ever Big South regular-season championship. Campbell tied for first-place in the league standings at 14-2, and earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Big South Championship tournament based on its season-sweep of fellow co-champion High Point. The Camels tallied nine overall 3-0 sweeps -- including six in conference matches, and also won five four-set matches along with four victories in five-set contests. As a team, Campbell finished the regular-season as the league leader in opponent hitting percentage (.163), assists (12.15) and blocks (264 and 2.40 per set), while ranking second in hitting (.218) and kills per set (12.97). Against conference foes, Campbell hit at a .223 clip with a league-best 857 kills (13.39 per set), in addition to pacing the circuit in assists (802 and 12.53 per set), blocks (160 and 2.50 per set) and opponent hitting percentage (.139 allowed). Goral finished with five first-place votes and 20 points in the voting, ahead of Gardner-Webb’s
Eric Plunkett (10 points and one first-place vote), and Winthrop’s
Heather Gearhart and High Point’s
Ryan Meek, who tied with nine points and received a first-place vote each.
Van Eekeren is the second Setter of the Year honoree, as the award was added entering the 2021 season. She appeared in 30 matches and 106 sets during the 2022 campaign, and finished second in the Big South in total assists with 877 while helping the Panthers to a league-best .238 hitting percentage. She averaged 8.27 assists per set, and on the front row she also landed 121 kills and 50 blocks. Defensively, she picked up 221 digs, (2.08 per set), and finished third on the team in service aces with 20. Van Eekeren was the Big South Player of the Week following matches against Charleston Southern and Winthrop in late October, and finished conference play with 517 assists, 9.07 assists per set, 11 service aces, 130 digs (2.28 per set), 31 blocks, 79 kills and 106.5 points. She recorded a season-high 10 kills at Winthrop, 43 assists at home versus Winthrop, and six blocks against Sacred Heart. Van Eekeren received four first-place votes and 19 points in the Setter of the Year voting, ahead of Winthrop’s Murray (two first-place votes and 17 points), and the Campbell combination of
Emily Mitter and
McKenna Sciacca (two first-place votes and 13 points).
Fechter is the second Defensive Player of the Year honoree, as this award was also added beginning with the 2021 season. The Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, Fechter led the Big South with 4.71 digs per set on the year and was second with 518 digs. She was tabbed Libero of the Week four times during the season, twice as many times as any other player, and surpassed 1,000 career digs this year, as her career total of 1,289 is the most among active Big South players. Fechter logged a career-high 37 digs against Radford on Nov. 5, the most in any conference match this season, and surpassed 20 digs 10 times on the year. In conference matches, Fechter was tops in the league with 329 digs and 5.14 digs per set -- the lone player to average at least 5.00 against league foes. She received 20 points and six first-place votes, ahead of Radford’s
Shelby Hernandez (12 points and two first-place votes) and High Point’s
Jenny Wessling (10 points and one first-place vote).
Murray is Winthrop’s first Big South Freshman of the Year honoree since 2005 and fourth overall. She finished first in the Big South and 47th in the country in assists per set at 10.35 and ranked sixth on her team with a .188 hitting percentage. Murray was the only player in the league to average 10 or more assists per set, and her 53 assists in Winthrop’s win over Wyoming were the third-most by any player in the league this season. Murray recorded 248 digs for an average of 2.56 per set, and added 54 blocks and 26 service aces on the season. In Big South matches, she was the league-leader with 578 assists and 10.51 assists per set while helping the Eagles finish with the second-highest hitting clip at .233. She also tallied 150 digs and 33 blocks in conference action. Murray received four first-place votes and 44 total points in the freshman voting, ahead of teammate
Avery Jolley (two first-place votes and 37 points) and
Gwen Wolkow (two first-place votes and 35 points).
Thompson is a 4.00 student pursuing her Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership, and also voted to the All-Conference First-Team after finishing first with 437 kills and third in kills per set with 3.64.
The conference also announced on Wednesday the complete All-Conference Team, which features a seven-member First- and Second-Team and five-member Honorable Mention squad (plus any ties), as well as the All-Freshman Team and All-Academic Team, all of which are listed below. The 2022 Big South Volleyball Championship tournament begins Saturday, Nov. 19 with the semifinals from the Millis Athletic Center in High Point, N.C.
2022 Big South Conference Volleyball Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
Sydney Palazzolo, OH, Soph., High Point
Melody Paige, MB, Sr., Campbell
Alayna Jansky, OH, Sr., Winthrop
Peyton Thompson, OPP, Gr., Charleston Southern
Dylan Maberry, OH, Jr., High Point
Claranne Fechter, LIB, Jr., Campbell
Ally Van Eekeren, S, Sr., High Point
Second-Team All-Conference
Isabella Murray, S, R-Fr., Winthrop
Indigo Young, MB, Jr., Charleston Southern
Gabby Idlebird, MB, Gr., High Point
Jenny Wessling, LIB, Soph., High Point
Lailah Green, OH, Sr., Campbell
Kylee Garrison, OH, Gr., Gardner-Webb
Chloe Cook, OH, Jr., Campbell
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Mikayla Logan, MB, Gr., Gardner-Webb
Karli Shepherd, OH, Soph., Winthrop
Brookelynn Thomas, MB, Jr., Winthrop
Rylee Moorhead, OH, Soph., Presbyterian
Avery Jolley, RS, Fr., Winthrop
All-Freshman Team
Isabella Murray, S, R-Fr., Winthrop
Avery Jolley, RS, Fr., Winthrop
Gwen Wolkow, OH, Fr., Campbell
Ady O’Grady, MB, Fr., USC Upstate
Morgan Hornaday, S, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Aley Clent, MB, Fr., Campbell
Skyler Yates, OH, Fr., Charleston Southern
All-Academic Team
Elyse Gross, Sr., Campbell
Peyton Thompson, Gr., Charleston Southern
Delaney McCullough, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Maria Miggins, Sr., High Point
Paige Cairns, Sr., Presbyterian College
Shelby Hernandez, Jr., Radford
Ona Elkins, Jr., UNC Asheville
Julia Gladhill, Soph., USC Upstate
Leah Metzger, Sr., Winthrop
Player of the Year
Sydney Palazzolo, OH, Soph., High Point
Setter of the Year
Ally Van Eekeren, Sr., High Point
Defensive Player of the Year
Claranne Fechter, LIB, Jr., Campbell
Freshman of the Year
Isabella Murray, S, R-Fr., Winthrop
Coach of the Year
Greg Goral, Campbell
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Peyton Thompson, Gr., Charleston Southern