The season may be over for the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team, but the Big West All-Conference honors kept rolling in for the 49ers on Monday.
The Big West recognized five 49ers as part of the All-Conference team.
Leading LBSU was two-time first-team pick, senior setter Jenelle Hudson who took home Big West Player of the Year last season. Hudson topped the conference in assists per set averaging 10.74 on the season and led the 49ers with 22 aces.
Junior outside hitter Nele Barber and senior middle blocker Hayley Benson, both transfers to the team, accompanied Hudson as part of the Big West first team. Barber led the conference with 23 double-doubles in her first season as a 49er. Barber finished the season third overall in the conference with 3.98 kills per set and took home Big West Player of the Week award four times this season making her way into the 49er record book.
Fellow newcomer Benson led the 49ers as the top blocker, averaging 1.09 blockers per set, and effective hitter, ending the season with a .322 hitting percentage.
Rounding out the awards for the 49ers with Big West honorable mentions were sophomore middle blocker Ashley Murray and freshman opposite hitter Peyton Grahovac.
Murray, last year’s Big West Freshman of the Year, hit .319 on the season despite missing a majority of the season with an injury. Murray ended on a high note, finishing second on the team in kills with 270. Grahovac hit .314 in conference matches and had double-digit kills in six straight matches.
Big West champions, University of Hawaii, took home Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.