INDIANAPOLIS -- Cleveland State senior Kara Koch has been named the Horizon League Volleyball Player of the Year, while Valparaiso senior Taylor Root earned Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Loyola’s Anny Eytchison collected Newcomer of the Year honors, while Cleveland State’s coach Chuck Voss was named Coach of the Year in voting of the League’s coaches.
Koch was named Offensive Player of the Year after leading the League with an average of 4.71 kills per set to finish with 457. The now three-time All-League selection also ranked in the top-10 in the League with 321 digs as she is the only player in the conference to rank in the top-10 in both categories. She is joined on the All-League team by teammates Marie Frease and Amanda Medvetz, while Dayna Roberts is on the seven-member All-Newcomer team.
Voss earned his third career Coach of the Year nod after leading Cleveland State to the regular season title as the Vikings finished with a 13-1 League mark.
Root was named Defensive Player of the Year for the third straight season after averaging 5.75 digs per set this season. She becomes the first player in conference history to win the Defensive Player of the Year award three times. The Jenison, Mich., native has 2,713 digs for her career entering the Horizon League tournament, that ranks as the most in League history and fourth all-time in NCAA history.
Root is also making her fourth appearance on the All-League team - one of only three players in League history to be an All-League volleyball selection in all years of their career. She is joined on the All-League team by teammates Morgan Beil and Ellen Vanden Berg.
Eytchison earned the Newcomer of the Year award after helping spark Loyola to one of the NCAA’s biggest turnarounds in the 2012 season. The Ramblers were just 4-22 last season, including a 1-15 mark in League play, but this year Loyola enters the postseason tournament with an 8-6 conference record and 16-11 record overall. Eytchison, in her only year of eligibility at Loyola, ranks second in the conference to Koch with 446 kills and averages 4.37 kills per set. Eytchison is the only Rambler on the All-League team, but she is one of four LU players to make the seven-person All-Newcomer squad. Brittany Brown, Stephanie Kinane and Kathleen Vogel join their teammate on the All-Newcomer team.
Second place finisher UIC had three players on the All-League team in Janise Dismuke, MaryKate Imrie and Aubrey Sniegowski. Dismuke ranked second in the conference in hitting percentage (.336), Imrie led the League in assists (1260; 11.05 avg. per set) and Sniegowski ranked in the top-10 in the League in hitting percentage and kills per set as UIC’s 10-4 conference record this season is the best for the Flames in the League since joining in 1994.
The All-League team was rounded out by Green Bay’s Brittany Groth (League-best 6.27 digs per set) and Carmen Leitermann (.284 hitting percentage and 0.92 blocks per set), Milwaukee’s Rachel Neuberger (only player in conference to rank in top-10 in hitting percentage, kills and blocks) and Youngstown State’s Missy Hundelt (led league with 4.42 kills per set average), while the All-Newcomer team consisted of Berrington, Roberts, the quarter of Loyola players and Wright State’s Marisa Aiello.
The Horizon League Volleyball Championship begins on Friday, Nov. 16 at Woodling Gymnasium in Cleveland, Ohio. The quarterfinals start with No. 5 Green Bay facing No. 4 Loyola at 5:00 (ET) and No. 6 Youngstown State playing No. 3 Valparaiso at 7:30 p.m. (ET). No. 1 Cleveland State will square off against the lowest remaining seed while No. 2 UIC will meet the highest remaining team in the semifinals, which begin at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, Nov. 19. The championship contest begins at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 18.
2012 Horizon League Award Winners
All-Horizon League
Name
Kara Koch, Cleveland State
Janise Dismuke, UIC
Anna Eytchison, Loyola
Taylor Root, Valparaiso
Marie Frease, Cleveland State
Missy Hundelt, Youngstown State
Ellen Vanden Berg, Valparaiso
MaryKate Imrie, UIC
Brittany Groth, Green Bay
Rachel Neuberger, Milwaukee
Carmen Leitermann, Green Bay
Aubrey Sniegowski, UIC
Morgan Beil, Valparaiso
Amanda Medvetz, Cleveland State
All-Newcomer Team
Name
Anna Eytchison, Loyola
Dayna Roberts, Cleveland State
Brittany Brown, Loyola
Kelsey Berrington, Valparaiso
Stephanie Kinane, Loyola
Marisa Aiello, Wright State
Kathleen Vogel, Loyola
Player of the Year:Kara Koch, Cleveland State
Defensive Player of the Year:Taylor Root, Valparaiso
Newcomer of the Year:Anna Eytchison, Loyola
Coach of the Year:Chuck Voss, Cleveland State
