OCCAC Announces 2019 Annual Volleyball Awards

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Volleyball stand-outs from the 2019 regular season were recognized by the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference on Monday, Nov. 4, as the league released it yearly accolades and All-OCCAC honorees list. Owens’ Tyriana Settles and Sonny Lewis headline the group as the league’s Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively.

Additional annual awards include the Setter of the Year for Audrey Jenkins and Tate Rybarczyk as the Libero of the Year, both from Columbus State. Settles added Freshman of the Year laurels as well.

Tyriana Settles | Owens | OCCAC Player of the Year
Settles attacked .359 on 220 kills during 16 league matches, both numbers ranked top-3 in the OCCAC. She was a heavy defensive contributor as well, posting the OCCAC’s seventh-most digs per set at 4.10/set. Settles is the fifth straight Owens representative to be named Player of the Year, mirroring The Express’ five-year league title run.

Sonny Lewis | Owens | OCCAC Coach of the Year
Lewis hauls in his 10^th OCCAC Coach of the Year distinction since 2002 after guiding Owens to an unblemished 16-0 conference record and 40-4 overall mark entering next week’s NJCAA D-III National Championship tournament. Lewis’ previous awards came in 2002, ’03, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’10, ’11, ’15 and ’17.

Audrey Jenkins | Columbus State | OCCAC Setter of the Year
Jenkins dished out 10.05 assists per set during the conference slate while digging 3.16 balls per set and directly accounting for 71.5 points on 47 kills, 33 blocks (10 solo) and three aces.

Tate Rybarczyk | Columbus State | OCCAC Libero of the Year
Rybarczyk was responsible for 5.73 digs per set in lifting the Cougars to a 13-3 OCCAC ledger.

 
All-OCCAC First Team
Kayla Bekier (Owens)
Rebecca Brown (Owens)
Bobby Diamond (Columbus State)
Hallie Holbrook (Sinclair)
Audrey Jenkins (Columbus State)
Sarah Pothast (Edison State)
Annaiya Ruffin (Cuyahoga)
Tate Rybarczyk (Columbus State)
Tyriana Settles (Owens)
Elizabeth Sicking (Sinclair)
Kara Sullinger (Lorain County)
Hannah Walls (Clark State)

All-OCCAC Honorable Mention
Taylea Achterman (Clark State)
Taylor Adams (Sinclair)
Vanecia Billings (Lorain County)
Sierra DeLong (Hocking College)
Akea Hunter (Columbus State)
Sarah Miozzi (Lakeland)
Semira Neely (Owens)
McKenzie Papp (Cuyahoga)
Whitney Pleiman (Edison State)

OCCAC All-Freshman Team
Vanecia Billings (Lorain County)
Rebecca Brown (Owens)
Sarah Pothast (Edison State)
Annaiya Ruffin (Cuyahoga)
Tyriana Settles (Owens)
Hannah Walls (Clark State)