Honors continue to come for volleyball’s Nolan and Hurtt

Junior libero Caitlin Nolan serves the ball during the match against Baylor on Nov. 29.

Harrison March

Another week means another set of awards for ISU libero Caitlin Nolan and her roommate outside hitter Victoria Hurtt to hang over their mantle.

Just eight days after both players were named to the All-Big 12 First Team, the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced on Dec. 9 that Nolan has been named to the AVCA All-Midwest Region First Team, while Hurtt earned a spot on the the Honorable Mention list.

With the accolades, Nolan and Hurtt are now eligible to be selected to the AVCA All-American teams, which will be announced next week.

This season Nolan continued the ISU tradition that coach Christy Johnson-Lynch has built at the libero position in her time in Ames, becoming the seventh Cyclone in a row to win the Big 12 Libero of the Year award.

Nolan, a junior, led the conference with 5.74 digs per set during the 2014 campaign, and that mark was good enough to place her fifth in the nation. Her 5.74 digs per set are also a school record, previously held by three-time All-American Kristen Hahn.

With her selection, Nolan became the 10th ISU player to be named a member of the All-Midwest Region First Team member in as many years under Johnson-Lynch and extended the streak of Cyclones to earn the honor to seven consecutive years.

Hurtt’s selection is her second appearance on the All-Midwest Region team, as she also earned an Honorable Mention following the 2012 season.

Hurtt ranked second among Cyclones in kills per set at 2.66 and led the team with 12 solo blocks en route to a career-high 59 total blocks on the year. She finished her career with 1,033 kills, becoming the ninth player to surpass the quadruple-digit mark in team history.

Though Iowa State’s season ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Dec. 6, Hilton Coliseum will still play host to the Ames Regional of the tournament. No. 1 overall seed Stanford will play Oregon State at 5 p.m. on Dec. 12, with a match between eighth-seeded Florida and ninth-seeded Illinois to follow.