Nine schools represented on 2020-21 LSWA All-Louisiana Volleyball Teams
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) announced the 2020-21 All-Louisiana Volleyball teams as LSU’s Taylor Bannister earned Player of the Year honors and Xavier’s Pat Kendrick and Louisiana-Lafayette’s Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot were named Co-Coaches of the Year.
Xavier’s Semira Blair was named the Newcomer of the Year and Southeastern Louisiana’s Kailin Newsome earned Freshman of the Year honors. Northwestern State’s Haley Hoang was named the Libero of the Year.
Nine schools were represented on the 2020-21 LSWA All-Louisiana Volleyball teams, led by Louisiana-Lafayette and Tulane with three each. LSU earned two spots, while Dillard, Loyola New Orleans, McNeese, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana and Xavier each had one.
Kendrick led Xavier to an 18-4 overall record, including a perfect 12-0 in GCAC play. Xavier won its conference tournament to qualify for the NAIA National Championship Tournament. XULA led the state of Louisiana in both victories and winning percentage, and was the only school in Louisiana to qualify for a national postseason tournament.
In her final campaign as Louisiana-Lafayette’s head coach, Mazeitis-Fontenot led the Ragin’ Cajuns to the program’s first-ever national ranking at No. 15. ULL had its second-best start after opening the season with a double-digit win streak of 11-0. The team finished the season with a 17-7 overall mark, including an 11-5 Sun Belt record.
Bannister was named to both the AVCA South All-Region Team and All-SEC team. The senior right side was second in the SEC in both kills per set (4.38) and points per set (5.11). She was seventh in the SEC in aces per set at .34. Bannister averaged 0.65 blocks and 1.91 digs per set.
Blair was the GCAC Player and Newcomer of the Year and was an AVCA NAIA All-Southeast honorable mention. The sophomore setter averaged 4.98 assists per set and XULA had its highest hitting percentage when Blair was in the lineup. She led the team in aces per set at 0.55.
Newsome was the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year and was a first team all-conference selection. The outside hitter ranked second in the Southland in kills per set at 4.18 and ranked third with 4.54 points per set. She led Southeastern Louisiana in kills (280) and was second in digs (184).
Hoang averaged 5.93 digs per set, including 5.65 digs in conference matches, before suffering a season-ending injury just after the midpoint of the season. Hoang earned Defensive Player of the Week or Honorable Mention four out of five weeks before her injury. Following her injury, opponents hit .071 points better and NSU had 11.7 less digs per match and 3.0 less digs per set.
2020-21 LSWA All-Louisiana Volleyball Teams
First Team
Pos. Name Class School
RS Taylor Bannister Sr. LSU
S Avery Breaux Sr. Louisiana-Lafayette
OH Lexie Douglas Sr. Tulane
OH Kailin Newsome Fr. Southeastern Louisiana
OH Hali Wisnoskie Sr. Louisiana-Lafayette
MH Kayla Dinkins Jr. Tulane
L Haley Hoang So. Northwestern State
Second Team
Pos. Name Class School
S Kailyn O’Neal Jr. Loyola New Orleans
S Karli Rose So. LSU
OH Kelsey Bennett Jr. Louisiana-Lafayette
OH Desire Neal Jr. Dillard
OH Regan Stiawalt Jr. McNeese
MB Vivica Price-Spraggins Sr. Xavier
L Sophia Ervanian Fr. Tulane
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Taylor Bannister, LSU, RS
LIBERO OF THE YEAR: Haley Hoang, Northwestern State, L
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Semira Blair, Xavier, S
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Kailin Newsome, Southeastern Louisiana, OH
CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR: Heather Mazeitis-Fontenot, Louisiana-Lafayette; Pat Kendrick, Xavier
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