Rachel Giustino and Rachel Holthaus were named First Team All-OVC and Katirah Johnson was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-OVC Wednesday night at the OVC Volleyball Tournament banquet in Clarksville.
Giustino led the Racers and the league in kills per set this season with 4.11 and was fourth in league play averaging 3.67 per set. Giustino had 18 double-doubles on the year including 11 in OVC play as she averaged 3.24 digs per set.
Giustino had double-figure kills in all but one match this season and had four 20-plus kill performances in 2017 while her 46 total blocks were a team-high and her 32 service aces were the third-most on the team.
Holthaus averaged 2.54 kills per set in conference play despite missing four matches due to injury. Her .350 hitting percentage ranked third in the OVC. Holthaus tallied 10 or more kills in eight matches in 2017 and six during league play. Against SIU Edwardsville on October 27, Holthaus had 21 kills and 10 digs while hitting .396.
Johnson becomes just the third OVC Freshman of the Year in program history, joining Nikki Wang (2002) and Jade Guo (2008) as Racers to win the honor. Johnson averaged 2.10 kills per set during conference play and her .367 hitting percentage was the second-best in the league.
Back on Oct. 21 against Tennessee State, Johnson broke the all-time single-match hitting percentage in MSU history as she hit .833 in the sweep. Johnson recorded 10 kills on just 12 swings, topping the previous mark of .818 set back in 2000 by Jessica Wood.
(Courtesy MSU Athletics)