New Haven, Conn. - The Holy Family University women's volleyball team had four players receive postseason honors by the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) as voted by the conference's head coaches.
Senior
Jillian Keeve (La Grange, Ill./Lyons Twp.) highlighted the list receiving All-CACC first team honors, while senior
Jordan Beland (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) and sophomores
Sarah Ambach (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) and
Chelsea Keegan (Bucyrus, Ohio/Colonel Crawford) earned All-CACC second team accolades. In addition, head coach Scott Hibbs was voted the CACC Coach of the Year.
Keeve is receiving All-CACC first team honors for the second straight season. She is averaging a team-best 2.86 kills per set, which ranks her among the conference leaders in kills. Keeve is also averaging 2.19 digs per set to go along with 47 service aces and 35 total blocks.
Keeve currently sits second all-time in program history with 1,286 career kills. She trails former standout Jennifer O'Connor by only 112 kills. O'Connor recorded 1,398 career kills from 2005-2008. Keeve is also ranked among the team's all-time leaders in service aces (5
th - 142), digs (7
th - 871) and total blocks (9
th - 128).
Beland is earning All-CACC honors for the third straight season after being named to the second team this year. She earned first team accolades in 2009 and 2010. Earlier this year, Beland became the program's all-time leader in total defensive digs and currently has 1,932. She has totaled 411 digs this season and is averaging 3.99 digs per set. She is currently ranked in fifth in the conference in total digs.
This also marks the fourth straight year that Beland has totaled 400-plus digs in a season. She tallied a career-high 587 digs in 2009. Beland also has 69 set assists and 20 service aces this season.
Ambach is earning All-CACC honors for the first time in her career. This season, Ambach has put together a career year as she set new career highs in total kills (303), attack percentage (.303), service aces (4), and solo blocks (19). She has tied her career-high in total blocks with 68.
Ambach's .303 attack percentage leads the CACC and is the highest ever recorded in program history in a season. Last year, Ambach set the recent high mark with a .280 attack percentage. To date, she has a .294 career attack percentage. She is also ranked sixth in program history with 136 total blocks.
Keegan is also earning All-CACC honors for the first time in her career after putting together a career year. In her first season as the team's primary setter, Keegan has tallied 1,118 set assists becoming just the second player in program history to surpass 1,000 assists in a season. Former All-CACC selection, Aimee Drabyn was the first to do so when she recorded a program record 1,318 assists in 2007.
Keegan currently leads the conference in total assists and is ranked third all-time in program history with 1,136 career assists. Keegan has also tallied 71 kills, 28 service aces, 29 total blocks and is averaging 2.39 defensive digs this year.
Hibbs is in his second year as head coach of the women's volleyball team and is the second coach in program history to receive CACC Coach of the Year honors from his peers. Former head coach Suzanne Kilian was named the conference's top coach in 2007.
Hibbs has guided Holy Family to its second straight CACC South Division Title and a program record 24 wins this season. The Tigers are currently 24-10 overall and finished conference play with an 18-1 mark. Holy Family is also advancing to the CACC semifinals for the second consecutive year after defeating Post University in the quarterfinals this past Tuesday.
In his two seasons at Holy Family, Hibbs has compiled a 45-20 overall record and a 34-4 mark in conference play. His .692 overall winning percentage is the highest ever by a head coach in program history.
Holy Family, the top-seed from the South Division, is back in action on Friday, Nov. 11 as the Tigers face third-seeded Wilmington University from the South Division in the CACC semifinals. Match time is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Georgian Court University. The winner will face the victor of the other semifinal match between top-seeded Caldwell College from the North Division and second-seeded Philadelphia University from the South Division in the CACC Championship Final at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
- HFU -