Lexington, Ken. - Joining the pantheon of all-time Tiger greats, senior Gillian Howard put a final exclamation point on a stellar final season as she was named an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Howard was awarded honorable mention honors for her play during the 2014 season as recognized by the AVCA's Awards Committee.
Howard's national recognition is the first for the Tigers since the 2004 season when Hayley Anderson and Sidney Bennett were named AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans. She became the 20th Tiger in Pacific's storied history to earn all-america recognition, earning the 37th AVCA award for the Tigers."What a fitting end to her indoor career at Pacific," said head coach Greg Gibbons.
"Gill was 100% dedicated to this team and was always striving to get better. Her hard work and true passion of the game made her one of the most dominant middles in the country and she will go down as one of the best middles in Pacific history. I am so very proud of her and look forward to seeing her at the next level overseas professionally and/or with the US team."
For the season, Howard was the Tigers' most consistent performer en route to leading Pacific to its most successful season in over a decade as Pacific finished 24-7 and 13-5 in the WCC. Howard earned First Team AVCA All-Region and First Team All-WCC recognition for her play after finishing her final season as arguably the WCC's best all-around middle. For the year, the senior tallied 282 kills (2.61 kps) as she recorded a WCC-best .394 attack percentage for the season which ranks No. 2 all-time in Pacific single-season history. In conference play, Howard was even better as she finished the 18-match slate with 203 kills (2.99 kps) while hitting an impressive .417. She also led the team with 135 blocks averaging 1.25 blocks per set.
Against the best-of-the-best, Howard was the Tigers' best player as she posted a .396 attack percentage while posting 118 kills and just 25 errors in 235 attacks against nationally ranked opponents. She averaged 2.74 kills per set and added 1.33 blocks as she produced 57.0 total blocks in just 11 matches and 43 sets against the best of Pacific's opponents.
Full List Of AVCA All-Americans
