Repeat Player of the Year Hilton Headlines SAC Volleyball Awards

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Wingate's Anna Hilton has become just the third student-athlete in SAC volleyball history to repeat as the conference's Player of the Year, headlining Thursday's announcement of the league's awards.

Hilton, a senior, joins former Wingate student-athlete Stormi Gale and former Presbyterian student-athlete Pam Deanhardt as the conference's only two-time Player of the Year honorees. Hilton ranked second in the league with a .349 hitting percentage and was sixth in kills per set at 3.39 during the regular season. She was a driving force in leading Wingate to its eighth-straight SAC title and sixth unbeaten conference record in the past seven years.

Hilton is one of five Wingate players named to the All-SAC team, which is the most in the conference. Tusculum, Lenoir-Rhyne, Lincoln Memorial and Mars Hill each have three All-Conference picks, while Anderson, Carson-Newman, Newberry and Queens all have two apiece.

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Joining Hilton on the All-SAC First Team are fellow Bulldog players Alison Cooke and Lexi Potter. Cooke's average of 9.46 assists per set is the league's fourth-best, while Potter leads the conference and ranks sixth in the nation with a .386 hitting percentage.

Tusculum's Caitlyn Dean earned a first-team selection after finishing the regular season with a SAC-best 653 digs. She became Division II's all-time leader in the category on Nov. 16 in a TC win at Coker.

A pair of Anderson players – Shannon Gillespie and Hailey Pittman – were named to the First Team, along with Lenoir-Rhyne's Haley Rhyne and Queens' Keri Kemp. Gillespie led the SAC with 466 kills, Kemp ranked third with 386, Pittman was fifth with 370 and Rhyne finished sixth with 354.

In addition to the individual accolades, each program represented by a student-athlete on the All-SAC First Team earned spots in the 2013 Food Lion SAC Volleyball Championship bracket.

Mars Hill and Wingate both had two selections to the All-SAC Second Team, as the Lions are represented by Marissa Wixson and Maggie Murphy, while the Bulldogs' spots went to Susie Murach and Allison Rickher. They are joined on the Second Team by Tusculum's Kassie Voelker, Newberry's Samantha Parrish, Lincoln Memorial's Kaitlin Walton and Carson-Newman's Rachel Harper.

Rounding out the All-Conference accolades as honorable mention picks are Lenoir-Rhyne's Briana Gottberg and Kayla Morrow, LMU's Casey Mense and Jazzy Oates, Queens' Anna Gibbs, Tusculum's Megan Hasse, Newberry's Jessica King and Mars Hill's Toni Cole.

Tusculum's Rachel Garnett was named the SAC Freshman of the Year after ranking 11th in the conference with 286 kills and 15th in hitting percentage at .251. She leads the SAC All-Freshman Team, which also includes Wingate's Abby Saehler, Mars Hill's Marykate Griffin, Newberry's Logan Hayward, Queens' Meredith Jones and LMU's Abby Cash.

Wingate's Shelton Collier was voted as the league's Coach of the Year following the Bulldogs' dominant regular season. Collier has now won or shared the Coach of the Year award in each of the last seven seasons.

SAC Player of the Year: Anna Hilton, Wingate

SAC Freshman of the Year: Rachel Garnett, Tusculum

SAC Coach of the Year: Shelton Collier, Wingate

All-Conference First Team

Anna Hilton, Wingate

Caitlyn Dean, Tusculum

Alison Cooke, Wingate

Haley Rhyne, Lenoir-Rhyne

Lexi Potter, Wingate

Shannon Gillespie, Anderson

Keri Kemp, Queens

Hailey Pittman, Anderson

All-Conference Second Team

Marissa Wixson, Mars Hill

Susie Murach, Wingate

Kassie Voelker, Tusculum

Samantha Parrish, Newberry

Maggie Murphy, Mars Hill

Kaitlin Walton, Lincoln Memorial

Allison Rickher, Wingate

Rachel Harper, Carson-Newman

All-Conference Honorable Mention

Anna Gibbs, Queens

Megan Hasse, Tusculum

Jessica King, Newberry

Briana Gottberg, Lenoir-Rhyne

Toni Cole, Mars Hill

Kayla Morrow, Lenoir-Rhyne

Kristen Pickett, Carson-Newman

Casey Mense, Lincoln Memorial

Jazzy Oates, Lincoln Memorial

All-Freshman Team

Rachel Garnett, Tusculum

Abby Saehler, Wingate

Marykate Griffin, Mars Hill

Logan Hayward, Newberry

Meredith Jones, Queens

Abby Cash, Lincoln Memorial