Xavier’s Kayla Black headlines GCAC Volleyball Preseason All-Conference Team

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The conference office released its Volleyball Preseason All-GCAC Team on Wednesday afternoon as voted on by the league’s seven head coaches. Xavier superstar Kayla Black was selected as Preseason Player of the Year with the most points out of all nominees.

The entire seven player team consists of Black, her XULA teammates Eva Le Guillou and Vivica Price-Spraggins, a pair of PSC Lady Panthers; Jakayla Shrum and Lela Collier, Dillard’s Desire Neal and Edward Waters’ Anyssa Guzman.

Black, a senior outside hitter from Houston, Texas, has been an NAIA All-Southeast Region All-American the past two seasons and is the two-time defending GCAC Player of the Year along with Attacker of the Year. She has made the All-GCAC First Team in all three of her seasons in gold and green, broke the school’s season record for kills in back-to-back campaigns, led the league in kills per set the past two years and has never lost a contest against a conference foe in her career (47-0).

Neal, a junior outside hitter and middle blocker from Sacramento, California, landed on the All-GCAC First Team in 2019 after placing second behind Black for both kills and kills per set in the GCAC as well as ranking fourth in hitting percentage plus 16th regarding blocks per set.

Le Guillou, a senior setter from Velizy-Villacoublay, France, has brought home GCAC Setter of the Year Awards in all three seasons in the Crescent City while making the All-Conference First Team as a sophomore and junior plus a Second Team nod as a freshman. This previous campaign she broke the program record for most assists in a season, fronted the conference in assists per set for the second year running, guided the offense to .239 hitting percentage (63 points better than the second place finisher) and like Black, has never lost a conference matchup.

Price-Spraggins, a senior middle blocker from Chicago, Illinois, was a All-GCAC Second Teamer in 2019 and also collected the GCAC Tournament MVP accolade. She has led the conference in hitting percentage for two years in a row and was the only player in the league with 250 kills, 100 blocks and 40 aces. Her three-season tenure has also resulted in a perfect record against in-conference competition.

Shrum, a senior setter from Dallas, Texas, made last season’s All-GCAC Preseason Team as well while going on to make the Second Team following the conference tournament. She was dubbed the GCAC Setter of the Week in 2019 and averaged 7.03 assists per set.

Guzman, a senior libero from Jacksonville, Florida, earned spots on both the All-GCAC Second Team and GCAC All-Tournament Team a year ago, topping the GCAC in digs per set (4.6), finishing third for total digs (415) and service aces (40), and fourth for aces per set (0.4).

Collier, sophomore defensive specialist and libero from San Antonio, Texas, was voted Conference Freshman of the Year and First Team All-GCAC as she averaged 3.95 digs per contest for a total of 316 on the campaign.

GCAC Preseason Player of the Year: Kayla Black (Xavier)

Preseason All-GCAC Team
Player, Team
Kayla Black, Xavier (La.)
Desire Neal, Dillard
Eva Le Guillou, Xavier (La.)
Vivica Price-Spraggins, Xavier (La.)
Jakayla Shrum, Philander Smith
Anyssa Guzman, Edward Waters
Lela Collier, Philander Smith
Others receiving votes: Codi Fillmore (Dillard), Katarina Ribar (Edward Waters), Kayelyn Salley (Tougaloo), Kierstin Salley (Tougaloo), Maurica Marsh (Edward Waters), Tamya Renfro (Rust), Reanna Burroughs (Talladega), Keundra Rembert (Talladega), Jennifer Torres (Xavier)