Key Returners – Setters/Right Sides

This is my now annual look at the key returners to the West Region. This article covers the setters and right side players and I’ll also have one for the liberos, middles and outsides. My process remains the same in that I scoured the 2018 Awards page for non-seniors and then reviewed the NCAA statistical leaders for anyone I may have missed. Note that in some cases what the NCAA has for statistics differs from what the schools have on their sites. In all cases I went with what the NCAA has because as you all know, I back the NCAA in all things. There were a few key returners that I don’t list simply because I’ve learned they will not be returning to their school. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to catch all of these instances but I did the best I could. I also guarantee that I overlooked some players and for that I apologize; my system, like myself, is imperfect. Without further ado, here are your key returning setters and right side players.

Lizzy Counts (Colorado College – Setter – Senior)

Lizzy Counts has had three remarkable seasons going into her senior year but she found her role changing a bit at times last year with the emergence of setter Isabelle Aragon-Menzel. It’s an abundance of riches at that position for the coaching staff and it will be interesting to see what formation they rely on to start the year. Regardless, Counts will excel in 2019 because I’m not sure she knows how to do it any differently. She was a Third Team All-American last season in addition to a West AVCA and D3VbWest All-Region player and was on the SCAC All-Conference team. Her Assists/Set dropped a little last year due to playing more 6-2 formations but she still finished 51^st nationally with a mark of 9.85. Counts also finished 38^th nationally in Total Assists. Colorado College is a team that has the players to make a run at the national championship in 2019 and we could be seeing Counts face off against Phoebe Madsen in a regional final just like we did in 2017.

Rachel Demerjian (Centenary – Setter – Sophomore)

Centenary just completed their best season in the SCAC not to mention their best season overall since 1999 and the play of freshman Rachel Demerjian was a large reason for the success. She was named to the 2^nd Team SCAC All-Conference team and has already stamped her name into the Ladies record book (now holds the school record for most assists in a match as well as the season). Nationally, she finished 67^th in Total Assists and 107^th in Assists/Set. The school graduated 6 seniors but they have a good young core with three of their top four hitters from last year also being freshmen. Centenary isn’t a team that gets discussed a lot but their future behind Demerjian looks bright.

Isabel Kelly (Pomona-Pitzer – Right Side – Senior)

Isabel Kelly accumulated 241.5 points last season while missing a couple of weeks due to injury. This probably cost her more notoriety going into this year but she was 2^nd Team All-SCIAC in 2017 and SCIAC Newcomer in 2016. If she can stay healthy then Kelly will complete her senior year as one of the best right sides in the West Region. I expect a 300+ point season for Kelly and her success will be directly linked to the success of the Sagehens and whether they can qualify for the SCIAC Tournament in 2019 after just missing out last year.

Miranda Klein (UMHB – Setter/Right Side – Senior)

I think I’ve made it clear that I always like the players that can jump out of the gym but being a former middle who thought he had great hands (others disagreed), I also love the tall athlete that gets to set and Klein is one of two that fit that description that we’ll talk about in this article. Klein has primarily been used on the right side her first two seasons but she got to show off her setting skills in 2018 and she shined. She finished 206^th nationally in Total Assists while putting together her second straight year with 300 or more points. Klein is a tremendous blocker finishing 131^st nationally in Blocks/Set and 49^th in Total Blocks. To top it off, she also had 2 Triple-Doubles on the season (21^st nationally). As for her awards, let’s start with her being named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team (she be smart) while also being named Honorable Mention All-American. She was also on both the West AVCA All-Region and D3VbWest All-Region teams. She somehow wasn’t named on the ASC All-Conference team in one of the more glaring oversights during awards season and probably held that against the conference during the ASC Tournament where she was named Tournament MVP while taking over full setting duties with Cory Jo Martin not playing. UMHB has a new coach coming in so we’ll have to see what formation he decides to go with but don’t doubt for a second that Klein will be a big part of the Cru’s potent offense on their run to a possible national championship.

Katrina Lieberman (Trinity – Setter – Senior)

Lieberman is one of the best setters in the region if not the nation for a program that seems to sprout tall athletic setters every couple of years. Lieberman was named Honorable Mention All-American, SCAC All-Conference and was placed on both the West AVCA and D3VbWest All-Region teams. She led the West Region in Total Assists (10^th nationally) and was 2^nd in the West in Assists/Set (14^th nationally) with a mark of 10.73. When not setting up her teammates, Lieberman is putting the ball down herself finishing the year with 87 kills with only 15 errors. Trinity is losing a little fire power this season so expect Lieberman to increase her attacking skills while also making new stars on a really young team (13 of their 18 players are underclassmen). I struggled a bit with where to rank Trinity this season but with Lieberman in charge it would have been foolish to leave them off my Top 25.

Phoebe Madsen (CMS – Setter/Right Side – Senior)

The queen of the West Region right now coming off her SCIAC Athlete of the Year, D3VbWest Player of the Year, West AVCA All-Region Player of the Year and First Team All-American season. Going into her final year, her main goal will be to win a national championship and I believe she has the players around her to make this happen. Madsen is a complete player and the injuries to CMS last year really forced her to make use of all of her abilities. Statistically, she led the West Region in Aces/Set (74^th nationally) while finishing 130^th nationally in Assists/Set and 213^th in hitting percentage. She also finished with 3 Triple-Doubles, which was good for 14^th nationally. The big question for 2019 is what role the coaching staff gives her this season. Will she run a 5-1 or a 6-2 and hit across the front? Regardless, Madsen is setup for another wonderful season as she completes her collegiate volleyball career.

Cory Jo Martin (UMHB – Setter/Right Side – Senior)

Honestly, Martin may have been the most important player during the regular season on a team filled with outstanding athletes in 2018. My big question for the Cru going into the season was who the heck was going to set the ball? How can you have this team ready to climb the NCAA Mountain and leave them to an unknown freshman setter? Well, the answer was junior transfer Cory Jo Martin and with apologizes to Allen Iverson; Martin is “The Answer” when it comes to DIII volleyball. Martin would go on to be named the ASC West Division Newcomer of the Year and earn a spot on the ASC All-Conference team as she led the Cru to the ASC West Division regular season title. Unfortunately Martin missed the remainder of the season on a team that ultimately made the Regional Finals. Martin finished 110^th nationally in Assists/Set and 150^th nationally in Total Assists.

Jaiden Mason (Willamette – Setter/Right Side – Junior)

Mason was an Honorable Mention All-NWC in 2018 but expect more accolades this season as she quarterbacks the Bearcats for her third year. She finished 196^th nationally in Assists/Set (with 7.21) and 209^th in Total Assists while also accumulating 137 points. She’s one of the team’s best blockers and also finished second on the team in digs. Her hitting dropped off a tad this past year so expect that to rebound but really there doesn’t seem to be anything Mason can’t do on the court.

Madison Maynes (La Verne – Setter – Senior)

Maynes stepped into the full-time setting role last season and excelled running the offense and finding West AVCA All-Region Kelsie Sievers and the outstanding freshman Haley Celaya for over 750 points. She’ll lose Sievers this year (not to mention Katelyn Winiecki) but there is still a lot of talent on the Leopards. For her efforts, she was placed on the SCIAC All-Conference 2^nd team while finishing 4^th in the West Region in Total Assists (43^rd nationally). She also finished 5^th in the West Region in Assists/Set (38^th nationally). Maynes has a chance to lead the West Region in the setting categories during her senior year but probably won’t get the credit she deserves playing in a conference with Phoebe Madsen. With that said, the conference is pretty wide open after CMS and La Verne should go as far as Maynes can take them in 2019.

Laney Search (George Fox – Setter/Right Side – Junior)

When talking about players that can jump, we need to include Laney Search who can hold her own on the right side and took her game to another level in 2018. She increased her assist totals to 492 while accumulating 179 points on 140 kills attacking across the front row. This do-everything player finished with 3 Triple-Doubles (14^th nationally) on the season as she also reached the 200 dig mark. Expect her to score her share of awards next season leading the Bruins in a wide open NWC field.

Caroline Shecterle (UT-Dallas – Setter – Senior)

I hope she doesn’t take this the wrong way but every time I see Shecterle on the court I wonder if someone’s kid has gotten away from her parents. With that said, while Shecterle may be shorter than most she is a giant when running the Comet offense. Going into her senior year, she has yet to miss a match and in 2018 she walked away with ASC All-Conference honors and was an Honorable Mention West AVCA All-Region player. Shecterle is perfect for the 6-2 formation, which UT-Dallas runs, and she tops it off by just never making mistakes while on the court while also playing great defense. (I mean she missed two serves the entire year. Who does that?) Statistically she finished the year 186^th nationally in Total Assists and 239^th nationally in Assists/Set. Her leadership is going to be needed more than ever in 2019 as the Comets have lost some really good hitters but anyone who doubts her doesn’t see the 6’4” player in that 5’4” frame.

Sophie Srivastava (Chapman – Setter/Right Side – Sophomore)

Here is the sophomore version of Miranda Klein and the Triple-Double queen of the West Region (10 on the year which was best in the west and 2^nd nationally). I regret being at the opening tournament last year in SoCal and not seeing a Chapman match because when I streamed the Chapman/Southwestern two days later I couldn’t believe the spanking this 6’0” freshman was laying on my beloved Pirates. It wasn’t a fluke, either, as Srivastava would go on to be named the SCIAC Newcomer of the Year as well as being placed on the SCIAC All-Conference team. Srivastava would also be named Honorable Mention West AVCA All-Region but made my First-Team D3VbWest All-Region team. Srivastava finished with a 0.279 hitting percentage (203^rd nationally) and ended up 226^th in Points/Set while also amassing more than 500 assists on the year. I really wished Chapman was going to travel this season to show off their two Fab Freshmen from last year (more on the second in a later article) but if you are near Disneyland on game night think about skipping the Matterhorn for the excitement of a Chapman volleyball game and getting to see the all-everything Sophie Srivastava.

Alana Susbilla (UC Santa Cruz – Setter – Senior)

As the only independent DIII school in the West Region, the Banana Slugs are often overlooked but the Association of Division III Independents (AD3I) certainly didn’t do that when it came to Susbilla. She was named on the AD3I First Team as well as the Setter of the Year for all independent schools. The team only loses one senior and they have the players to make a run at a Pool B bid this year. Susbilla plays in a 6-2 formation and has started in all three years at Santa Cruz. She’s coming off her highest assist totals (416) and if she can improve on that again in 2019 then there is a chance the NCAA won’t be overlooking this team come selection time.

Amanda Walker (CMS – Right Side – Senior)

CMS has five seniors this year after not graduating anyone in 2018 and three will be highlighted in this series of articles. At times last year Walker seemed to be the only reliable hitting option the Athenas had so she got the ball a lot (1,111 swings good for 57^th in Total Attacks). She is one of the top right side players in the nation but expect her opportunities to lessen in her senior year as I expect a more balanced attack in 2019. Still, another 400+ points season seems like a given. For her efforts last season Walker was named a Third Team All-American, a West AVCA All-Region player, a D3VbWest All-Region player and was named on the SCAC All-Conference team. Statistically, she was 4^th in the West Region in Kills/Set (76^th nationally) and Points/Set (92^nd nationally). She was also 203^rd in Total Blocks and 2^nd in the West Region in Total Kills (40^th nationally). Walker had to wait her turn until the outstanding Shelbi Stein and All-American Magaux Arntson graduated but based on points, she’s already put together a better year than either player did in their careers. (Amanda, if you are out there…please make sure you use that fact on Stein and Arntson at the next alumni game!)