INDIANAPOLIS – McKendree University senior right side Amanda Geiger along with Bellarmine University junior libero Jordyn Kuchenbrod, freshman attacker Abigail Oetting and their head coach Jenni Grzebin have earned major postseason honors for the 2017 Great Lakes Valley Conference Volleyball season, it was announced by the league office Thursday evening. Geiger was voted by the league coaches as GLVC Player of the Year, while the Knights’ Kuchenbrod was picked as the Libero of the Year, her teammate Oetting was Freshman of the Year, and Grzebin was recognized by her peers as Coach of the Year. In addition, a total of 29 standouts were named to the 2017 All-Conference Teams. The annual awards were presented Thursday at a reception on the eve of the GLVC Volleyball Championship Tournament.

Geiger is the second McKendree student-athlete to be named Player of the Year, as teammate Arela Williams won the award in 2015, and the third overall to win a major award, as Williams was the 2014 Freshman of the Year. Geiger started all 29 matches for McKendree this season, averaging 3.82 kills per set, a .225 hitting percentage, 3.45 digs per set, 4.33 points per set and 0.67 blocks per set. In GLVC-only contests, the senior fared even better with 4.05 kills per set, a .227 hitting clip, 3.68 digs per set, 4.59 points per set and 0.70 blocks per set. Geiger’s mark for Conference-only kills per set ranks third in the loop, while her points per set is also the league’s third-best. Among her teammates, the right side is second with 439 kills and 397 digs. All of those aforementioned figures helped the Bearcats to a 22-7 overall record, a 16-2 mark in the league, a Central Division title, the No. 2 seed in the GLVC Championship Tournament and also the No. 2 ranking in the NCAA D-II Midwest Region. Geiger also earned All-GLVC honors for the first time in her career, being one of two players unanimously voted to the First Team, and is a former two-time Academic All-GLVC performer. In addition, the Tomball, Texas, native earned both an Offensive (Sept. 25) and Defensive (Oct. 9) Player of the Week accolade during the 2017 campaign.

Kuchenbrod, a unanimous All-GLVC first-team honoree for the second-straight year, picks up the libero award for the second year in a row, as well. She is Bellarmine’s second Libero of the Year, as Jaclyn Ohlmann was chosen as the GLVC’s first major award winner at the position in 2013. This season the junior bested her total digs and digs per game average from last year, leading the league again with 729 and 6.88, respectively. In GLVC-only contests, Kuchenbrod notched 7.08 digs per game and 446 total for the Knights. Her season average for digs is fifth in the NCAA and third for total digs. She also tallied a top-10 mark for service aces (31) this season, which ranked in a tie for sixth in the loop and seventh in aces per set (0.29). Much like Geiger, Kuchenbrod also garnered multiple weekly honors in 2017. The product of Louisville, Ky., was a four-time GLVC Defensive Player of the Week – a feat she also accomplished in 2016 – winning the first three laurels of the season on Sept. 4, 11 and 18, and then again Nov. 6. She’s the second Conference player to win four weekly awards in a season but the only one who has done it twice.

Oetting is Bellarmine’s fourth newcomer to win the highest freshman honor, as Abbi Paine (1996), Carrie Wentzel (1997) and Krista Gibson (2010) all won the award in past years. The middle hitter/right side ranks 10th in the league for hitting percentage, as her .287 GLVC-only contest clip is also tops for the Knights on that leaderboard. Overall during the 2017 slate, the Ft. Wayne, Ind., product started 28 of 29 matches, hit .287, tallied 2.28 kills per set, blocked 0.76 attacks per set and accumulated 2.85 points per set.

Grzebin earns her first GLVC Coach of the Year acclaim and is just the second Bellarmine mentor to be named as such, as Kevin Payne was the first in 1991. The fifth-year mentor guided her Knights to its best season in those fives years with a 23-7 overall record and a 13-5 mark in GLVC contests – both a program-best with her at the helm – as well as the No. 4 seed in the GLVC Championship Tournament, finishing second in the East Division. The postseason berth is the 11th overall for Bellarmine but the first since 2013 when Grzebin was in her inaugural year at the helm. Undoubtedly the most impressive win of the 23 came on Oct. 21 when the Knights upset then-No. 1 Lewis in five sets at home. Grzebin guided Kuchenbrod to her second postseason award along with two others to All-Conference distinction with senior outside hitter Margaret Horihan joining Kuchenbod on the First Team along with senior setter Allie Muha on the Second Team. That makes eight All-GLVC honorees during her tenure.

Twenty-five other volleyball stars earned recognition from the GLVC coaches, as one 14-member All-Conference First Team and one 15-member Second Team, due to a tie, were also released on Thursday. 

Of the 29 All-Conference selections, Lewis and Rockhurst led the way with five representatives apiece, while the Flyers’ three first-team choices matched a league-high with McKendree. The Hawks put all five of its honorees on the Second Team, which was a league-best. Truman State University followed with four honorees, putting two on each team, while Bellarmine and Drury University had three honorees each. University of Illinois Springfield picked up two, as the only other team to earn multiple honorees. Rounding out the field with one selection was University of Missouri-St. Louis and Quincy University with first-team picks, while University of Wisconsin-Parkside and William Jewell College collected second-team recognition.

Joining Kuchenbrod and Horihan, along with Geiger, on the First Team include Drury’s Kendra Slater, Illinois Springfield’s Alyssa Hasler, Lewis’ three honorees in Abby Becker, Elizabeth Hyland and Aly Schneider, along with the two others from McKendree in Morgan Melchert and Arela Williams. Rounding out the contingent was UMSL’s Selena Nolte, Quincy’s Rebekah Raebel and Truman’s duo of Jasmine Brown and Lauren Wacker.

The league also recognized 15 GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award nominees and one team award winner: William Jewell. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school’s two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced at the end of the academic year.

A complete list of the All-Conference Teams and major postseason award winners follows below.

2017 GLVC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Amanda Geiger, Attacker, Sr., McKendree
2017 GLVC LIBERO OF THE YEAR: Jordyn Kuchenbrod, Jr., Bellarmine
2017 GLVC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Abigail Oetting, Attacker, Fr., Bellarmine
2017 GLVC COACH OF THE YEAR: Jenni Grzebin, Bellarmine
 

FIRST TEAM

SECOND TEAM*

Margaret Horihan, Attacker, Sr., BU Jordyn Kuchenbrod, Libero, Jr., BU # Kendra Sater, Setter, So., DU Alyssa Hasler, Attacker, Jr., UIS Abby Becker, Setter, Jr., LEWIS Elizabeth Hyland, Attacker, Jr., LEWIS Aly Schneider, Attacker, Sr., LEWIS Amanda Geiger, Attacker, Sr., MCK # Morgan Melchert, Setter, Jr., MCK Arela Williams, Attacker, Sr., MCK Selena Nolte, Attacker, So., UMSL Rebekah Raebel, Attacker, Sr., QU Jasmine Brown, Attacker, Sr., TSU Lauren Wacker, Libero, So., TSU # Unanimous Selection

Allie Muha, Setter, Sr., BU Sarah Kite, Attacker, Jr., DU Bentley Mara, Attacker, Jr., DU Taylor Bauer, Attacker, Jr., UIS Alexandra Preuss, Attacker, So., LEWIS Maddie Seliga, Attacker, Sr., LEWIS Alyssa Woodman, Attacker, So., RU Grace Carter, Setter, Sr., RU Anne Hellwege, Libero, Sr., RU Karli Reichert, Attacker, So., RU Mary Rolf, Attacker, So., RU Natalie Brimeyer, Attacker, Jr., TSU Savvy Hughes, Setter, Jr., TSU Lexi Turek, Attacker, Sr., UWP Olivia Tolberd, Libero, Jr., WJC * extra member due to tie