BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Southeastern Conference announced its 2011 Volleyball All-SEC Awards and the University of Tennessee’s Kelsey Robinson was named the SEC Volleyball Player of the Year. The University of Kentucky’s Stephanie Klefot was named Libero of the Year and Tennessee’s Mary Pollmiller was named Freshman of the Year. Kentucky’s Ann Armes and Florida’s Kristy Jaeckel were named Co-Scholar-Athletes of the Year, while Coach of the Year honors went to Tennessee’s Rob Patrick.
Robinson becomes the first Lady Vol to earn Player of the Year honors. She helped lead Tennessee to its second SEC title and ranks top-two in the league in kills (4.57/set) and service aces (0.37). Robinson is 10th in the NCAA in points per set (5.17) and was named SEC Player of the Week four times in 2011. She was one of three SEC players to earn AVCA National Player of the Week honors during the season.
The Libero of the Year was awarded to Klefot for the second consecutive year. She averaged 4.75 digs per set and led the league with 542 total digs in action. Klefot was a two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Week selection and has charted 500+ digs in back-to-back years for third in UK history in career digs This is the second Libero of the Year honor for the Wildcats and their fourth Defensive Player of the Year award overall.
Tennessee’s Pollmiller claimed Freshman of the Year honors as the league’s top setter. Pollmiller is the SEC leader in assists averaging 12.03 per set, which ranks sixth in the NCAA. She was a five-time SEC Freshman of the Week selection and is the first UT freshman to earn Freshman of the Year honors since Nikki Fowler (2007).
Armes, Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year, posted a 3.53 GPA in Nutrition and Food Science. The graduate student logged over 300 hours of community service and is a John Wooden Citizen Cup semifinalist. She developed a training table menu for UK athletes and received All-SEC academic honors four times in her career.
Jaeckel, also a Co-Scholar-Athlete, has a perfect 4.0 GPA as a graduate student in Sport Management at Florida. She led the league in service aces with 0.43 per set and is a three-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll. Jaeckel recently earned Capital One First Team Academic All-District® accolades by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
By guiding the Lady Vols to the SEC regular season title with a 27-3, 19-1 conference record, Patrick claimed his third SEC Coach of the Year honor. UT ranks top-20 in the NCAA in four different categories (W-L %, hitting %, assists per set, kills per set) while a pair of Lady Vols received National Player of the Week honors this season (Robinson - AVCA, Tiffany Baker - CVU.com)
The All-SEC First and Second, and All-Freshmen Teams were also announced. The first and second teams are nine-member teams voted on by the league coaches while the freshmen team has seven members named to it. No ties are broken. First team selections were led by Kentucky and Tennessee with three members each, followed by Florida with two.
Player of the Year: Kelsey Robinson, Tennessee
Libero of the Year: Stephanie Klefot, Kentucky
Freshman of the Year: Mary Pollmiller, Tennessee
Co-Scholar-Athletes of the Year: Ann Armes, Kentucky; Kristy Jaeckel, Florida
Coach of the Year: Rob Patrick, Tennessee
First Team All-SEC
Jasmine Norton, Arkansas
Kristy Jaeckel, Florida
Kelly Murphy, Florida
Whitney Billings, Kentucky
Christine Hartmann, Kentucky
Stephanie Klefot, Kentucky
Leslie Cikra, Tennessee
DeeDee Harrison, Tennessee
Kelsey Robinson, Tennessee
Second Team All-SEC
Kelli Stipanovich, Arkansas
Tangerine Wiggs, Florida
Desiree Elliott, LSU
Madie Jones, LSU
Meghan Mannari, LSU
Ashley Frazier, Kentucky
Regina Thomas, Ole Miss
Caitlin Rance, Mississippi State
Tiffany Baker, Tennessee
Mary Pollmiller, Tennessee
All-Freshmen Team
Taylor Unroe, Florida
Lauren O’Conner, Kentucky
Helen Boyle, LSU
Malorie Pardo, LSU
Lainey Wyman, Mississippi State
Tiffany Baker, Tennessee
Mary Pollmiller, Tennessee