San Bruno, Calif. - Putting together their finest season in over a decade, the Pacific women's volleyball team was well represented on the All-WCC team as voted upon by the conference's 10 head coaches and announced by the conference office on Tuesday, Dec. 2. Leading the way for the Tigers to a 24-7 record and a second place finish in the WCC at 13-5, head coach Greg Gibbons was named Co-Coach of the Year alongside of BYU's Shawn Olmstead. Additionally, senior Gillian Howard and junior Kat Schulz teamed up to take home first team honors while sophomore Lexi Elman earned honorable mention status. The trio were named to the postseason team together for the second-straight season. In addition to the top honors, freshmen Katrin Gotterba and Andie Shelton each were named to the all-freshmen team for their play in their debut seasons. 

The top honor for coach Gibbons marks the first conference coach of the year award for a Tiger skipper since hall-of-fame coach John Dunning was named Big West Coach of the Year after the 2000 season. Gibbons led his team to its best record since the 2001 season as Pacific posted its second 20+ win season under the fifth-year head coach. Picked to finish seventh in the WCC, the Tigers went on a tear through the conference, losing just five matches to take home a second place finish just behind BYU who captured the title. Gibbons' 2014 squad proved to be one of the best defensive teams in the country as Pacific finished the year ranked No. 10 in the nation in opponent hitting percentage by allowing a measly .145 average against. Of 31 opponents on the year, the Tigers held 11 to sub-.100 hitting and five to .000 or worse. Guided by Gibbons, the Tigers put five players on the All-WCC teams, marking the most postseason honors for the Tigers since placing six on the All-Big West team in 2007.

Leading the charge for the Tigers in WCC play was Howard who earned her third-straight all-conference honor and second-consecutive All-WCC award after earning honorable mention status in the Tigers' first year in the conference last season. Arguably the best player in the WCC over the final month of the season, Howard put together a final campaign to rival the best season's in Pacific's storied history. 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. She earned her first-ever Player of the Week award in the final week of the regular season after leading the Tigers to two huge road victories in Southern California. 

Joining Howard on the All-WCC First Team was Schulz as the third-year opposite made it a perfect three-for-three in all-conference selections for her career. Just as Howard had done, Schulz was named to the honorable mention side in 2013 as Pacific felt out the WCC for the first time. For the year, Schulz was the Tigers' best all-around talent as the lefty finished the year with 345 kills (3.29 kps) on .244 hitting while tallying 297 digs and 57 blocks. In WCC play, Schulz was just as solid as her numbers stayed even with her out of conference performance as she posted 221 kills (3.25 kps) while tallying 213 digs and 41 blocks. Schulz finished the season with a team-best 14 double-doubles including recording 11 in Pacific's 18 conference matches. She earned the Tigers' first-ever WCC Player of the Week award on Sept. 15 after leading Pacific to a 3-0 record at the Molten Classic in Berkeley, Calif. The Tigers became the first team to beat the host Bears and the first team other than Cal to win the tournament in Berkeley in its nine-year history thanks to Schulz' efforts.

Rounding out the top trio for the Tigers was Elman who earned her second All-WCC honor after earning all-freshman status in 2013 as Pacific's libero. Moving back to the outside in her second season, Elman led the Tigers' offense with 377 kills, ranking ninth in the WCC in kills per set at 3.46. Despite being Pacific's top attacker, the sophomore outside did not let her defense slip as she finished the year with 287 digs (2.63 dps) while also recording 53 blocks. She was Pacific's top point scorer as she ended the year with 434.0 points scored as she also led the team from the service line with 28 aces. In WCC play, Elman ended the year with 222 kills (3.26 kps) while recording 172 digs, 15 aces, and 40 blocks. Elman finished second on the team with 10 double-doubles on the year. She earned her first Player of the Week award on Sept. 29 after guiding the Tigers to a win over then undefeated and 21st ranked LMU to begin conference play. In the match against LMU, Elman posted a career-high 22 kills, one of two 20+ kill matches for the young outside hitter on the year.

Teammates since childhood, it was only fitting that Pacific's freshmen spark plugs earned all-freshmen honors together as Gotterba and Shelton followed in Elman's footsteps by taking home postseason honors in their inaugural seasons. In her first season, Gotterba put together one of the finest defensive seasons in program history as the freshman libero tallied a freshmen single-season record 452 digs on the season. Her dig total just missed cracking the program's top-10 list as he ended two digs shy at No. 11 all-time while her 4.04 digs per set ranked No. 8 all-time. Gotterba made an immediate impact for the Tigers in just her third collegiate match as she set a program freshmen single-match record with 33 digs against then No. 5 USC, which tied for 5th all-time in Pacific's record book. Her efforts helped lead the way for Pacific to finish with a conference-best 1,794 digs while averaging 16.02 digs per set as a team.

For Shelton, her first season saw her split time with Pacific's captain in the middle of the offense as the first-year Tiger set from the back row while junior Kimmy Whitson took front row duties. Shelton ended the year with a team-best 673 assists (6.35) while helping the Tigers to hit .249 as a team. Defensively, the freshman added 195 digs as she recorded five double-doubles on the year including three in conference play. Just as Gotterba did early on, Shelton introduced herself to the collegiate scene early as she recorded her first-career double-double against then No. 5 USC on the first weekend of action after posting 26 assists and 12 digs.

2014 West Coast Conference Co-Coaches of the Year
Greg Gibbons, Pacific and Shawn Olmstead, BYU

2014 West Coast Conference Player of the Year
Alexa Gray, BYU

2014 West Coast Conference Defender of the Year
Whitney Young, BYU

2014 West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year
Kirsten Mead, Santa Clara

2014 All-WCC Volleyball First Team

2014 WCC Volleyball Honorable Mention
Jianna Bonomi, San Diego; Amy Boswell, BYU; Samantha Cash, Pepperdine; Sabrina Clayton, Santa Clara; Lexi Elman, Pacific; Canace Finley, San Diego; Natalie Loos, Saint Mary's; Kirsten Mead, Santa Clara; Katie Messing, Pepperdine; Taylor Milton, Santa Clara; Dani Rottman, Santa Clara; Becca Strehlow, Pepperdine

2014 All-WCC Volleyball Freshman Team