GREENWOOD, Ind. – Oklahoma Baptist saw four of its players -
Avery Hellmuth,
Maci Langford,
Rylee Martin and
Jenna West – named to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Volleyball team on Tuesday.
It marked the second straight year that the Bison were honored. A year ago, Hellmuth and
Audrey Poupard became OBU's first recipients of the accolade in the NCAA era.
To qualify, a student-athlete had to have possessed at least a 3.50 grade point average, been of sophomore standing and have legitimate playing credentials.
It should come as no surprise to see Hellmuth on this list. Over her career, the middle blocker from Dallas, Texas, has garnered numerous academic awards. A Social Sciences Secondary Education major, Hellmuth was a key figure for the GAC Champion and NCAA Tournament qualifier Bison.
She averaged 2.12 kills per set as well as an 0.86 blocks-per-set average. That latter total was a top-10 mark in the conference. During the season, Hellmuth moved into sixth place all-time with 299 career blocks as well as become just one of 10 Bison players to ever reach 700-plus kills. She was also named an All-GAC Honorable Mention selection and GAC Elite Scholar Student Athlete.
Langford, an Exercise Science major, capped off her Bison career with another outstanding season. She was the GAC's Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and All-GAC First Team member. The Arlington, Texas native led the league with a 4.7 digs per set mark and notched at least 20 digs in eight contests. By the end of the 31-match campaign, Langford finished with 1,144 career digs, the eighth-best mark all-time at OBU.
Rounding out the Bison's honorees were Martin and West, also Exercise Science majors.
In 86 sets played, Martin, a native of Owasso, Okla., tallied a team-high 545 assists. That equated to a 6.34 assists-per-set average. Before missing the last couple weeks of the season due to injury, Martin was continually ranked in the top-10 of the GAC in assists. In 17 matches this fall, she dished out at least 20 assists including a career-high 41 against Ouachita on Oct. 19.
West had a senior year to remember. She posted career-bests in kills per set (2.30), attack percentage (.208), digs (201) and service aces (15). The Arlington, Texas native dialed up 10-plus kills in 12 matches including a career-best 16 kills against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Oct. 26. West was also a valuable defender, reaching 23 and 25 digs in matches against Southern Nazarene and East Central on Nov. 9 and Oct. 31, respectively.
