WVB All-Tournament Team Announced; Evans Named MVP
Stevens Institute of Technology freshman Brianna Evens was named the Empire 8 Women’s Volleyball Tournament MVP after leading the Ducks to their fourth E8 title in program history and first since 2009.
Stevens will host the Hoboken Regional of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Women's Volleyball Championship Friday, November 14 through Sunday, November 16. The Ducks' first round match will be against Framingham State University and that will take place Friday at 8 p.m. in Canavan.
Evans finished with 11 kills and 11 digs in the semifinal match against fourth-seeded Houghton and then recorded a team-high 10 kills and 12 digs in the title match against Nazareth.
Mary Tobin and Syndi Horner joined Evans on the all-tournament team. Tobin led the Ducks with 16 kills, hitting .282 and tallying 17 digs against the Highlanders and posted seven kills and 12 digs in the title game. Horner tallied 26 digs over the two games to go with one ace.
Maria Allocco and Kassandra Buseck represented second-seeded Nazareth on the all-tournament team.
Buseck pounded out a match-high 14 kills against just two hitting errors in 25 attempts for a .480 hitting percentage verse Ithaca in the semifinals, while Allocco had eight kills and three aces. The Golden Flyers were led again by Buseck against Stevens with a match-high 17 kills with five errors on 36 attempts. Allocco finished with six kills and two blocks.
Ithaca fell in the tournament semifinals with a 3-0 loss to Nazareth College and were led by Rylie Bean with 10 kills to go along with four blocks. The Bombers have been selected to play in the ECAC Division III Metro/Upstate Championship and will compete as the No. 2 seed.
Houghton competed in its first-ever Empire 8 conference tournament and as the fourth-seed were eliminated by top-seeded Stevens in the semifinals. Hattie Burgher led the way offensively with 14 kills and also chipped in with nine digs.
2014 All-Tournament Team
Stevens: Brianna Evans (MVP), Mary Tobin and Sydni Horner
Nazareth: Maria Allocco and Kassandra Buseck
Ithaca: Rylie Bean
Houghton: Hattie Burgher