Nordhorn, Leath Named All-ACC
November 27, 2017 | Volleyball
GREENSBORO – North Carolina upperclassmen Beth Nordhorn and Taylor Leath were named All-ACC on Monday afternoon, as elected by the Atlantic Coast Conference head coaches. A total of 42 awards were given out on Monday, as the conference named five individual award winners, a 14-player First Team, a 14-player Second Team and a nine-player All-Freshman Team. Nordhorn earned her first career all-conference award, finding a place on the All-ACC First Team, while Leath, the 2016 ACC Player of the Year, garnered Second Team honors this fall.
"I am proud of our team this year to find a way make it through the adversity we faced with so many injuries," said head coach Joe Sagula. "I am especially proud of both Beth and Taylor for how well they performed throughout the season. They both played every match and that is a testament to their hard work and competitive drive."
A senior middle hitter from Winter Park, Florida, Nordhorn enjoyed a spectacular final season with the Tar Heels, solidifying herself as one of the most efficient offensive players in the nation and in Carolina history. Nordhorn led the ACC in hitting percentage for the majority of the year and finished the regular season ranked second in the conference and third all time at UNC with a .378 hitting percentage. The 6-foot-7 middle improved immensely on defense throughout the season, finishing the year ranked eighth in the ACC with 1.15 blocks per set, including totaling 24 stuffs over the final three matches of the year.
"This has been a great season for Beth, who led the ACC most of the season on offense and was a key player for our team," said Sagula. "For her to attack as high as she did on the season with two new setters in the program is a great accomplishment. Beth has worked so hard throughout her career. She has been diligent and made improvements to put it all together and have a great senior season. We will miss Beth and what she has brought to our program these past four years."
Nordhorn played all 28 matches at middle hitter this season, finishing second on the team with 231 kills and 120 blocks, averaging 2.22 kps and 1.15 bps. She registered double-digit kills in 11 matches, hitting .400 or higher in nine of those 11. Nordhorn hit at least .500 with 10+ kills seven times, including hitting above .600 with 10 kills twice. The Winter Park, Florida, native finished her time at Carolina with a .399 career hitting percentage—fifty points above the all-time record of .349 set by Tori Seibert in 1999. While her career average will not appear in the record books, having taken only 792 swings to come some 200 shy of the 1,000 required attempts, she is the only attacker in Carolina history to take even 30 career swings and hit above .375.
Taylor Leath earns her second All-ACC selection after being named ACC Player of the Year, All-ACC First Team and AVCA All-America Second Team last season. The redshirt junior outside hitter led Carolina with 336 kills (3.17 kps) and was second on the team with 228 digs (2.15/s) and 20 service aces (0.19/s). Carolina's team captain, the six-rotation outside registered 17 double-digit kill matches, nine double-digit dig matches and six double-doubles.
"Taylor Leath has had to take on the burden of the team this year with so many key players lost to injury," said Sagula. "She led the team through the ups and downs and I appreciate that and am so proud of her for taking on that huge responsibility. She has been the key player for us both on and off the court. She is a go-to player that our opponents have focused on and she is the leader that helped to drive this team's success. I am excited to have Taylor as our veteran and leader for next year as well."
Leath recorded 25+ kills twice this season, in four-set victories over top-50 opponents LSU and NC State. She was named ACC Player of the Week on Sept. 11 after setting a UNC 25-point rally-scoring record with 27 kills, 12 digs and a .404 hitting percentage against LSU. She then hit .442 with 25 kills in a 3-1 win over ACC rival NC State. One of Carolina's deadliest servers, she served up five aces without an error to go with 17 kills (.382) against Virginia Tech, which tied for the fifth most in a match during the rally-scoring era.
In addition to the 28 all-conference honorees, the ACC presented five individual awards, which were spread among four different teams this season. Miami senior outside hitter Olga Stranzali was named ACC Player of the Year, while Florida State middle blocker Taryn Knuth earned ACC Freshman of the Year honors. Two juniors from ACC Co-Champion Louisville garnered individual awards, as libero Molly Sauer won Defensive Player of the Year and Wilma Rivera earned ACC Setter of the Year. Finally, Dan Fisher, the head coach of ACC Co-Champion Pittsburgh earned his first ACC Coach of the Year award.
Three Atlantic Coast Conference seniors garnered their fourth consecutive All-ACC nods, in First-Team honoree Milica Kubura (Florida State) and Second Team selections Samantha Fry (Notre Dame) and Tess Clark (Louisville). ACC Defensive Player of the Year Molly Sauer, ACC Player of the Year Olga Strantzali and Miami setter Haley Templeton each earned their third all-conference award, while Leath was one of 12 honorees to pick up her second All-ACC honor.
Louisville led all teams with a total of six All-ACC honorees. NC State followed with four honorees, while Pittsburgh and Notre Dame had three apiece. North Carolina, Miami and Florida State each had two all-conference selections, and six additional teams had one student-athlete named All-ACC.
2017 All-ACC Awards
ACC Player of the Year: Olga Strantzali, Sr., OH, Miami
ACC Defensive Player of the Year: Molly Sauer, Jr., L, Louisville
ACC Setter of the Year: Wilma Rivera, Jr., S, Louisville
ACC Freshman of the Year: Taryn Knuth, MB, Florida State
ACC Coach of the Year: Dan Fisher, Pittsburgh
All-ACC First Team
Olga Strantzali #, Sr., OH, Miami
Nika Markovic $, So., RS, Pittsburgh
Julia Brown $, Sr., OH, NC State
Wilma Rivera, Jr., S, Louisville
Santita Ebangwese $, Jr., MB, Syracuse
Melanie McHenry, So, OH, Louisville
Milica Kubura @, Sr., RS, Florida State
Gabriela Stavnetchei, Sr., OH, Georgia Tech
Haley Templeton #, Sr., S, Miami
Kamalani Akeo $, Jr., S, Pittsburgh
Stephanie Williams $, So., OH, Pittsburgh
Kylie Pickrell, Jr., S, NC State
Beth Nordhorn, Sr., MH, North Carolina
Ryann DeJarld $, Jr., L, Notre Dame
All-ACC Second Team
Samantha Fry @, Sr., MH, Notre Dame
Taylor Leath $, Jr., OH, North Carolina
Jemma Yeadon $, So., OH, Notre Dame
Molly Sauer #, Jr., L, Louisville
Taryn Knuth, Fr., MB, Florida State
Cadie Bates, Sr., OH, Duke
Jaila Tolbert $, Jr., OPP, Virginia Tech
Kylie Long $, Sr., OH, Wake Forest
Kaitlyn Kearney $, Sr., MB, NC State
Tess Clark @, Sr., OH, Louisville
Bree Bailey, Gr., OH, NC State
Maggie DeJong $, Sr., MB, Louisville
Jasmine Bennett, Jr., MB, Louisville
Kaylin Korte, So, OH, Clemson
ACC All-Freshman Team
Taryn Knuth, MB, Florida State
Kayla Lund, OH, Pittsburgh
Chinaza Ndee, MH, Pittsburgh
Payton Schwantz, OH, Duke
Ella Saada, OH, Syracuse
Kaity Smith, OH, Virginia Tech
Melissa Evans, OPP, NC State
Summer Brown, MB, Duke
Sarah Billiard, OH, Virginia
@ – Four-time selection
# – Three-time selection
$ – Two-time selection
