STANFORD, Calif. – Hayley Hodson has been tabbed the AVCA Pacific North Region Freshman of the Year, while a total of four Stanford women’s volleyball players have earned all-region first team honors, the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced today.
Joining Hodson on the 14 player team were seniors Madi Bugg and Brittany Howard and redshirt sophomore Merete Lutz. Stanford led all schools in the Pacfic North Region with four selections to the first team.
Bugg, a two-time AVCA All-American, is being honored for the third time in her career. Lutz, a 2014 AVCA Second Team All-American, is a repeat honoree, while Hodson and Howard are being recognized for the first time in their careers.
Stanford has had at least four all-region players for three consecutive seasons. Players named to the all-region teams are now in contention to become 2015 AVCA All-Americans.
Hodson, a native of Newport Beach, California, is the sixth Stanford player to earn AVCA Region Freshman of the Year honors, joining Logan Tom (1999), Ogonna Nnamani (2001), Kristin Richards (2003), Foluke Akinradewo (2005) and Alix Klineman (2007). She is the first Cardinal freshman to lead the team in kills (3.82 kps) since Klineman. She also leads the squad in points per set (4.52) and aces per set (0.34), ranking in the top-10 in the Pac-12 in both categories. A five-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honoree, Hodson led the team with 13 double-doubles this season.
Bugg, who hails from Apex, North Carolina, leads the Pac-12 with 11.04 assists per set, ranking 30th nationally.The political science major was second on the team with 12 double-doubles in 2015. She finishes her career on The Farm ranked second all-time in career assists (5,014), becoming just the third player in program history to reach the 5,000 assist plateau. She also became the 16th player in school history to collect 1,000 career digs, doing so in a sweep over Oregon State on Oct. 9.
Howard, a Los Altos, California native, averaged career-highs in kills per set (3.05) and points per set (3.56), while also hitting a career-best .304 on the season. She turned in 10 double-doubles on the year and registered a career-high 22 kills in the regular-season finale at then-No. 13 UCLA (Nov. 27) to earn her first Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors. In October, Howard became just the 10th player in program history to amass 1,000 career kills and digs.
Lutz, a native of Houston, Texas, ranked fourth in the Pac-12 with a .388 hitting percentage, sixth with 1.24 blocks per set and 10th with 3.94 points per set. The middle blocker earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 26 after helping the Cardinal defeat then-No. 4 Washington and Washington State. Her .412 career hitting percentage is the third-best mark in program history behind Foluke Akinradewo (.446) and teammate Inky Ajanaku (.415).
Stanford, which earned the No. 8 overall seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, had its season come to an end at the hands of Loyola Marymount in the second round at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal finished 23-7 overall and third in the Pac-12 Conference at 16-4.
