Gator Country

Gators junior Chloe Mann Mann swatted an NCAA-leading .444 hitting percentage this season for Florida and put down 380 kills on the year. / Gator Country file photo by Curtiss Bryant

Florida junior middle blocker Chloe Mann (Gainesville, Fla.) has been named a First Team All-American and freshman outside hitter Živa Recek (Kočevje, Slovenia) was honored as the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I National Freshman of the Year, the Lexington, Ky.-based organization announced Wednesday at its annual convention in Louisville, Ky.

Recek was joined as an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention selection by junior setter Taylor Brauneis (Crystal Lake, Ill.) and senior right-side hitter Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.). Four honorees ties for the most by a single Gator team, as Florida had four athletes honored by the AVCA in 2003 and 2010.

Mann, the SEC Player of the Year and a First Team All-SEC selection, topped the Gators with an NCAA-leading .444 hitting percentage, putting down 380 kills on the year. Mann led Florida with 1.15 blocks/set, good for third in the SEC. For her career, the junior middle blocker has 532 kills on a .455 hitting clip and is on track to break Florida’s career hitting percentage record by the end of her senior season. She is a two-time SEC Offensive Player of the Week selection, once in both 2011 and 2012. She was named Preseason All-SEC by the league’s coaches this fall and was MVP of the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational earlier in the season.

Mann is also a 2012 CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District® honoree and eligible for Academic All-America® honors. The Gainesville native gives the Florida program its 14th AVCA First Team All-America recognition and she is the ninth Gator in history to receive First Team All-America honors. She is the third Gator middle blocker to be named First Team All-America, joining Nina Foster (1997) and Aycan Gokberk (1993, 95)

Recek, who was also honored as the AVCA South Region and SEC Freshman of the Year, led Florida with 440 kills on the year (4.00/set) and ranked in the top five in the SEC in kills and points per set (4.45). Recek is the second Gator to receive AVCA National Freshman of the Year, joining Florida’s only four-time AVCA All-American Kelly Murphy.

Recek was a four-time SEC Freshman of the Week selection, two-time SEC Offensive Player of the Week honoree and now owns the Florida freshman record for kills in a season, shattering the previous record of 357 shared by Aycan Gokberk and Marcie Hampton. She also owns the freshman records in points (490.0) and attacks (1,166). She is second in kills and points per set by a freshman behind Gator great Aury Cruz, who crushed 4.32 kills/set and 5.24 points/set during her rookie campaign. Recek is one of only eight freshmen honored by the AVCA as an Honorable Mention selection.

Brauneis, an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention honoree, led the SEC with 11.65 assists/set. A 2011 AVCA All-America Honorable Mention selection while at Louisville, Brauneis has turned in three double-doubles as a Gator and set a new career high with 67 assists against Tennessee. Brauneis, who is ninth in the NCAA in assists/set, was also named AVCA All-South Region and First Team All-SEC. Brauneis set the Gators to a .298 hitting efficiency, a mark which led the SEC and ranked fourth in the NCAA, dishing out 1,247 assists on the year.

Wiggs, an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention honoree, finished second in the SEC and 26th in the NCAA in hitting percentage with a .376 offensive efficiency and was third on the team with 245 kills on the year. Wiggs finished her Florida career with 658 kills and 278 blocks. Wiggs was named AVCA All-South Region and First Team All-SEC in 2012, and Second Team All-SEC in 2011. Wiggs is also a 2012 CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District® honoree and eligible for Academic All-America® honors.

The selections were made by the AVCA Division I All-America Committee: Santiago Restrepo, Oklahoma; Sherry Dunbar, Indiana; Lisa Seifert, Southern Methodist; Molly Alvey, Cincinnati; Jennifer Greeny, Washington State; Craig Skinner, Kentucky; Jeff Nelson, New Mexico; Tonya Johnson, Georgia Tech.  The AVCA Awards Chair is Dayton head volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield.

Each of the three AVCA All-America Teams is comprised of 14 athletes. The Division I AVCA National Player of the Year will be announced on Dec. 14 at the AVCA All-America/Players of the Year Banquet.

With Mann’s inclusion as a First Team All-America, she is eligible for National Player of the Year honors. Mann, Wiggs and Second Team All-SEC middle blocker Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) are CoSIDA Academic All-District® honorees and are eligible for CoSIDA Academic All-America®, which will be announced Thursday.

Courtesy of UF Communications

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