Big South Announces 2024 Volleyball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) –- High Point outside hitter
Dylan Maberry (Magnolia, Texas) has been voted the 2024 Big South Conference Volleyball Player of the Year, while HPU head coach
Ryan Meek 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 Winthrop’s
Isabella Murray (Norcross, Ga.) the Setter of the Year, High Point’s
Jordyn Schilling (Newport Beach, Calif.) the Libero of the Year, USC Upstate setter
Kamyla Vega David (Carolina, Puerto Rico) the Freshman of the Year, and HPU middle blocker
Arica Davis (Hillsborough, N.C..) as the Newcomer of the Year. Winthrop’s
Avery Jolley (Knoxville, Tenn.) was selected Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s sports information directors.
Maberry is the first three-time Big South Player of the Year selection in conference history, in addition to being the fifth consecutive Panther to be voted Big South Player of the Year, as well as HPU’s sixth honoree in the last seven seasons. She led the conference during the regular-season in points with 457.5 (4.57 per set) and 405 kills (4.05) while hitting .229. Maberry recorded a season-high 23 kills versus Princeton, 15 digs at Winthrop, five aces versus UNC Asheville and five total blocks versus Western Michigan. She added 249 digs (2.49 per set) and 39 blocks on the defensive end, and served in 31 service aces -- fourth-most in the conference. In Big South matches, Maberry totaled 192 kills, 4.09 kills per set, a .272 hitting percentage, 16 service aces and a league-best 217.5 points and 4.63 points per set. A four-time Big South Player of the Week honoree in 2024, Maberry received five first-place votes and 123 total points in the voting to earn a spot on the All-Conference First-Team, and finished ahead of Winthrop’s
Avery Jolley (117 points and two first-place votes) and Radford’s
Sophie Paspal (105 points, one first-place vote) for Player of the Year honors.
Meek earns his record-tying fourth Big South Coach of the Year honor in five seasons after leading the 21-6 Panthers to the Big South regular-season championship following a 13-1 conference season. His squad won 20 matches for the sixth time, and directed the program to its seventh regular-season title in the last eight seasons. The Panthers posted 11 three-set sweeps in conference matches and finished with a 39-7 won-loss mark in league sets. High Point is the Big South leader in overall hitting percentage (.253), lowest opponent hitting percentage (.163), assists (1,274, 12.74), blocks (254.0, 2.54) and service aces (161, 1.61). In Big South action, the Panthers were tops with a .285 hitting efficiency, .117 opponent hitting percentage, 13.53 assists, 24.9 blocks and 1.87 service aces. Meek finished with five first-place votes and 17 points in the voting, ahead of Winthrop’s
Heather Gearhart (15 points and one first-place vote), and USC Upstate’s
Ali Skayhan (10 points and one first-place vote).
Murray is the fourth Setter of the Year honoree, as the award was added entering the 2021 season, and is the first Winthrop player to be voted the league’s top setter. Murray was a seven-time Setter of the Week honoree after setting the Eagles to a league-leading 14.69 kills per set and a .239 hitting percentage through conference play. She led the conference with 11.60 assists per set in league matches as well as overall with 10.76, and finished the regular-season ranked 18th in the country in assists per set. Murray tallied 40 assists in a three-set match a league-high four times in 2024 -- including 46 vs. Gardner-Webb in the regular-season finale, while her 51 assists vs. Radford on Oct. 18 was the most in the conference for a four-set match. She also led all setters in blocks per set and was third among setters in digs per set with 3.04. Murray, who notched 10 double-doubles in 14 Big South matches this season, received six first-place votes and 20 points in the Setter of the Year voting, ahead of Upstate’s Vega David (13 points and two first-place votes), and High Point’s
Allie Gray (nine points).
Schilling was a two-time Big South Libero of the Week selection in 2024, and ranked among the conference leaders in digs (491 – third), digs per set (4.91 – third), service aces (47 – first), and service aces per set (0.47 – first). She recorded a career-high 29 digs in HPU’s sweep at Winthrop on Oct. 19, and had six services against USC Upstate on Oct. 26, which was tops in a three-set match this season. Schilling posted 20-plus digs in a match 12 times in 2024, including eight in Big South competition, and averaged 5.36 digs in Big South contests while ranking first in conference-only service aces with 29 -- the lone player with at least 20. Schilling received 18 points and four first-place votes, ahead of Gardner-Webb’s
Molly Littlefield (12 points and three first-place votes), and Winthrop’s
Sophia Matthews (11 points and one first-place vote).
Vega David is USC Upstate’s first Big South Freshman of the Year honoree since becoming league members in 2018, and the program’s first to earn a major conference award at the NCAA Division I level. She led the Big South in total assists with 884 -- fifth among NCAA freshmen, while her 8.84 assists per set were second among the league leaders. Vega David was sixth in the conference and seventh among NCAA setters with 351 total digs for a 3.51 digs per set average. She recorded 18 double-doubles on the season, which included career bests of 55 assists and 30 digs in Upstate’s victory over UNC Asheville on Nov. 12. Vega David passed out 50-plus assists once and 40-plus assists 11 times. A 10-time Big South Freshman of the Week and two-time Setter of the Week honoree, Vega David received five first-place votes and 47 total points in the freshman voting, ahead of Winthrop’s
Giselle Little (42 points and one first-place vote) and WU’s Matthews (31 points, one first-place vote).
Davis is the second Big South Volleyball Newcomer of the Year, which recognizes the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. The transfer from Minnesota played in 97 sets and led the conference in blocks with 125 and 1.29 blocks per set. She recorded a season-high and HPU single-match record 13 blocks against Southeastern Louisiana on Aug. 30. Davis added 160 kills (1.65 k/s) in the middle on a .283 hit percentage (fifth in the Big South), plus 14 service aces, 11 assists and 59 digs. Davis received three first-place votes and 14 total points in the balloting, just ahead of Gardner-Webb’s
Cayton White (13 points and two first-place votes) and UNC Asheville’s
Payton Rolfsen (11 points and two first-place votes).
Jolley is a 4.000 student as a Business Administration major with a concentration in Healthcare Management. She is a four-time Presidents List honoree, is a member of Winthrop’s Honors College, serves as treasurer of Winthrop’s SAAC and is a member of Winthrop’s FCA. This season she entered the 500-dig club at USC Upstate on Nov. 8, led the Eagles with 279 kills, and was second in the Big South with 4.11 points per set.
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 2024 Big South Volleyball Championship tournament begins Friday, Nov. 22 with the first round from the Millis Athletic Center in High Point, N.C.
2024 Big South Conference Volleyball Award Winners
First-Team All-Conference
Dylan Maberry, OH, Gr., High Point
Avery Jolley, OH, Jr., Winthrop
Sophie Paspal, MB, Sr., Radford
Isabella Murray, S, R-Jr., Winthrop
Jordyn Schilling, LIB, Jr., High Point
BayLea Sparks, MB, R-Soph., High Point
Kylie Cackovic, OH, R-Soph., UNC Asheville
Second-Team All-Conference
Skylar Yates, OH, Jr., Charleston Southern
Kamyla Vega David, S, Fr., USC Upstate
Courtney Williams, OPP, Soph., Presbyterian
Ady O’Grady, MB, Jr., USC Upstate
Molly Littlefield, LIB, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Karli Shepherd, OH, Sr., Winthrop
Savannah Page, RS, Jr., USC Upstate
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Giselle Little, MB, Fr., Winthrop
Brenna Rowland, MB, Soph., Charleston Southern
Eve Wilson, OPP, Soph., High Point
Arica Davis, MB, Sr., High Point
Allie Gray, S, Sr., High Point
All-Freshman Team
Kamyla Vega David, S, Fr., USC Upstate
Giselle Little, MB, Fr., Winthrop
Sophia Matthews, LIB, Fr., Winthrop
Maeve Rehmann, MB, Fr., Winthrop
Isabel Sandstrum, OH/RS, Fr., Gardner-Webb
Élodie Lalonde, OH, Fr., High Point
Aubrey Hatch, RS, Fr., Radford
All-Academic Team
Emily Struckmeyer, Jr., Charleston Southern
Molly Littlefield, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Eve Wilson, Soph., High Point
Anna Baranski, Jr., Presbyterian
Sophie Paspal, Sr., Radford
Albertine van der Goot, Soph., UNC Asheville
Julia Gladhill, Sr., USC Upstate
Avery Jolley, Jr., Winthrop
Player of the Year
Dylan Maberry, OH, Gr., High Point
Setter of the Year
Isabella Murray, R-Jr., Winthrop
Libero of the Year
Jordyn Schilling, Jr., High Point
Freshman of the Year
Kamyla Vega David, S, Fr., USC Upstate
Newcomer of the Year
Arica Davis, MB, Sr., High Point
Coach of the Year
Ryan Meek, High Point
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Avery Jolley, Jr., Winthrop