NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - For the first time since the Atlantic 10 started announcing a Setter of the Year award (2001), Dayton senior
Jane Emmenecker becomes the first player in conference history to win the honor four times. Senior
Amber Erhahon picked up top honors as the Player of the Year while a total of six Flyers earned mention on All-Conference Teams. The year-end awards were announced by the conference office on Nov. 16 ahead of the 2017 A-10 Championship slated for Nov. 17-19.
VCU's Jody Rogers won her first Coach of the Year award after leading her team to its first A-10 regular season title and the Rams' Rebekah Strange earned A-10 Libero of the Year honors after leading the A-10 in digs per set averaging 5.02. Saint Louis freshman Maya Taylor was named Rookie of the Year. The major awards, All-Conference Teams and All-Rookie Team were voted on by the A-10's head volleyball coaches. The All-Academic team was selected by the volleyball media relations directors.
Erhahon, a middle blocker from Albany, Calif., was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the year following a season in which she received weekly A-10 accolades on four occasions and led the league in hitting percentage (.458) in addition to ranking in the top five in blocks (118) and blocks per set (1.18).
A senior from Perrysburg, Ohio, Emmenecker was named A-10 Setter of the Year for the fourth consecutive season. She ranked third in the A-10 in assists per set, averaging 9.05. She also led an offense that ranked first in overall and conference-only hitting percentage and finished first in overall and conference-only kills per set.
Dayton dominated the All-Conference First Team with four Flyers on the roster, the most of any school. Emmenecker and Erhahon were joined by juniors
Kendyll Brown and
Lauren Bruns. Junior
Margo Wolf picked up two awards as she was named to the All-Conference Second Team as well as to the All-Academic Team while freshman
Bridget Doherty was recognized on the All-Rookie squad.
UD finished the regular season in second place in A-10 standings with a 13-1 mark in conference play. The second-seeded Flyers earned a first-round bye in the 2017 Atlantic 10 Championship and will play the winner of #3 Saint Louis vs. #6 George Washington. Dayton's semifinal match is set for Saturday, Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m. The tournament is being hosted by Duquesne at the Dukes' A.J. Palumbo Center. All three rounds of the A-10 championship will be streamed live on the A-10 Network.
