STEPHENVILLE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team brought home a bundle of awards at the annual Lone Star Conference volleyball banquet, held Wednesday night. Celeste Vela was named the LSC Freshman of the Year and head coach Craig Case was named Co-Coach of the Year.
 
In addition, seven Lions were named to the All-Conference teams and three student-athletes were named to the All-Academic team. Shelley Chapron was named First Team All-Conference and was named to the Academic team. Jaryn Wacker and Jaslyn Wacker were both named Second Team All-Conference and were both named to the Academic team. Bina Njikam was also named Second Team All-Conference. Savannah Rutledge and Rylie Fuentes joined Vela on the Honorable Mention team.
 
Vela– from Guadalajara, Mexico– became the fourth Lion Volleyball player in program history to be named Freshman of the Year, and the first since 1997. The setter and hitter contributed all over the court for the Lions, transitioning from outside hitter in the front court to setter in the backcourt. Vela was a two-time LSC Setter of the Week and recorded seven triple-doubles on the year, the most of any freshman in all of Division II and the fourth most of any player. She also had 17 matches with a double-double. She also had 20 matches with at least 20 assists. She is averaging 8.8 kills, 17.4 assists and 8.3 digs per match.
 
Chapron– a junior from Houston (St. Pius X)– earns her second consecutive First Team All-LSC award after another stellar season. She has been named LSC Offensive Player of the Week three times and also was a one-time Defensive Player of the Week. Chapron leads the conference and is seventh in the nation with a .404 hitting percentage, the only player in the LSC to be hitting higher than .400. She has recorded double-digit kills in 17 different matches and has hit better than .400 in 17 matches. She also has 10 matches with at least five blocks.
 
Jaslyn Wacker– a senior from Austin (Vista Ridge)– earns the fourth All-Conference award of her career and her third consecutive appearance on the All-Academic Team. She is second on the team with 291 kills so far this season, and also has more than 100 blocks on the year. She has recorded double-digit kills in 15 matches this season and has 10 matches with at least five blocks.
 
Jaryn Wacker– a senior from Austin (Vista Ridge)– has had a career season, posting a career-high 283 kills on the season with a career-high hitting percentage. This is the second All-Conference award of her career and her second time on the All-Academic team. She was a one-time Offensive Player of the Week. She leads the team and is 10th in the conference in kills per set. She has recorded double-digit kills in 16 matches this season.
 
Njikam– a senior from Keller– has had a career year in the first extended action of her career. She has posted 267 kills and ranks second on the team and ninth in the LSC with a .284 hitting percentage. She also ranks second on the team and eighth in the conference with 104 blocks on the season. Njikam has posted double-digit kills in 13 matches this season and has hit better than .400 in 10 matches on the year. She has 10 matches with at least five blocks. This is the first All-LSC award of her career.
 
Rutledge– a junior from The Woodlands (College Park)– earns the first All-Conference award of her career. She was twice named LSC Defensive Player of the Week. The Lion libero led the team and was sixth in the LSC in digs, recording more than 500 digs for the second season in a row. Rutledge also ranked first on the team and fifth in the league with 37 service aces. She has 10 matches with at least 20 digs on the season and has multiple aces in 10 matches as well.
 
Fuentes– a junior from Robinson– earns her first All-Conference award of her career. Part of the Lion two-setter system, Fuentes was named LSC Setter of the Week three different times during the season. She led the team and is eighth in the LSC with 635 assists this season and has had at least 20 assists in 18 matches this season. She has also had at least 10 digs in seven matches.
 
Case became the first Lion Volleyball coach since 2009 to be named LSC Coach of the Year and the third coach in program history to win the award. The Lions' record of 25-5 is the most wins under Case's tenure and the eighth time in program history the team has reached 25 wins. The team's 17 conference wins set a new single-season program record.
 
The Lions are the second seed in the LSC Tournament and will face seventh-seed UT Permian Basin on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. The semifinal round will be played Friday with the championship match scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday. All matches will be played at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.
 
2018 LSC VOLLEYBALL ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS

SPECIAL AWARDS
Player of the Year: Madison Brabham, Texas A&M-Kingsville
Academic Player of the Year: Meghan Parker, Angelo State
Offensive Player of the Year: Madison Brabham, Texas A&M-Kingsville
Defensive Player of the Year: Hannah McManus, Tarleton State
Setter of the Year: Meghan Parker, Angelo State
Libero of the Year: Chandler Vogel, West Texas A&M
Newcomer of the Year: Audrey Fragniere, Angelo State
Freshman of the Year: Celeste Vela, Texas A&M-Commerce
Coach of the Year: Mary Schindler, Tarleton State, and Craig Case, Texas A&M-Commerce

All Academic Team

Player	Team	Pos.	Major
Meghan Parker	Angelo State	Setter	Exercise Science
Paige Dixon	Cameron	OH/RS	Biology
Jennifer Martinez	Eastern New Mexico	MB	Political Science
Jasmine Gannon	Eastern New Mexico	OH	Mathematics for Sec. Educ.
Sarah Glawe	Midwestern State	Setter	Early Childhood Dev.
Adrianna Knutson	Tarleton State	Libero	Kinesiology
Hannah McManus	Tarleton State	MB	Kinesiology
Jaslyn Wacker	Texas A&M-Commerce	MB	Accounting
Jaryn Wacker	Texas A&M-Commerce	OH	Finance and Spanish
Shelley Chapron	Texas A&M-Commerce	MB	Public Health
Madison Brabham	Texas A&M-Kingsville	OH	Business Marketing
Courtney Noel	Texas Woman's	MB	Mathematics
Skyler Friel	UT Permian Basin	MB	Kinesiology
Lindsey Smith	West Texas A&M	MB	Psychology

 
First Team

Player	Team	Pos.
Baleigh Allen	Angelo State	MB
Audrey Fragniere	Angelo State	OH
Sundara Chinn	Angelo State	RS
Meghan Parker	Angelo State	Setter
Jasmine Gannon	Eastern New Mexico	OH
Hannah McManus	Tarleton State	MB
Adriana Darthuy	Tarleton State	OH
Shelley Chapron	Texas A&M-Commerce	MB
Madison Brabham	Texas A&M-Kingsville	RS
Courtney Noel	Texas Woman's	MB
Kate Ranes	Texas Woman's	Setter
Skyler Friel	UT Permian Basin	MB

 
Second Team

Player	Team	Pos.
Adrianna Knutson	Tarleton State	Libero
Amber Strange	Tarleton State	OH
Blanca Izquierdo	Tarleton State	Setter
Jaslyn Wacker	Texas A&M-Commerce	MB
Bina Njikam	Texas A&M-Commerce	MB
Jaryn Wacker	Texas A&M-Commerce	OH
Haley Hutchinson	Texas A&M-Kingsville	MB
Bailey French	Texas Woman's	Libero
Chandler Vogel	West Texas A&M	Libero
Destiny Jones	West Texas A&M	MB
Selena Batiste	West Texas A&M	Setter
Bria Augustine	Western New Mexico	OH

 
Honorable Mention

Player	Team	Pos.
Bailey Drum	Angelo State	OH
Brittnee Altic	Cameron	Libero
Brandy Carr	Cameron	MB
Sarah Eakin	Midwestern State	MB
Erin Richburg	Midwestern State	OH
Lauren Kersey	Tarleton State	RS
Savannah Rutledge	Texas A&M-Commerce	Libero
Celeste Vela	Texas A&M-Commerce	Setter
Rylie Fuentes	Texas A&M-Commerce	Setter
Maggie Pyles	Texas Woman's	OH
Travana Matthews	UT Permian Basin	MB
Lindsey Smith	West Texas A&M	MB
Gabi Lau	Western New Mexico	Libero