Oilers Place Four on AVCA All-Region List: Olson Earns FOY
Freshman Hailee Olson, Junior Hannah Tong, senior Julie Lyons, and sophomore Nickyla Garverick of the Oilers volleyball team have been named all-Midwest Region by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) on Dec. 2. Olson won Midwest Region Freshman of the Year honors and was named first team while Tong and Lyons were also tabbed first team performers. Garverick earned honorable mention.
Olson has made a splash as in just her first season as she has become the first Findlay player to earn AVCA Midwest Region Freshman of the Year. Olson has been the key to the Oilers offense all year as the team's setter. She currently leads the GLIAC in assists (1,437), assists per set (11.98), and sets played (33). Her 1,437 assists are 291 better than the conference number two. That assist number is also good for third highest in the country while her assists per set rank her seventh in DII.
Olson, from Malone, Wis., has a place in the Oilers record book as she ranks sixth at UF for assists in a season. Her 11.98 assists per set are also good for sixth in a season.
This is the first time Olson has won AVCA all-Midwest Region.
Tong, who also earned first team all-GLIAC accolades, paced the Findlay attack with 473 kills at a rate of 3.97 kills per set. Each of those numbers is good for second in the conference while her total kills rank her 19th in the country. Her 473 kills also place her eighth in the Oilers record book for kills in a season.
The Carey, Ohio native has been stellar throughout her career as she has amassed 1,047 kills in her career, just the ninth Oiler to reach the 1,000 kill milestone. Tong is just 71 kills behind 2014 graduate and two-time AVCA All-American, Danielle Taflinger, who finished her career with 1,118 kills. Tong, a junior, can work her way up the record books with a full season of volleyball left to play.
Tong has also earned first team all-Midwest Region from the Conference Commissioner's Association (CCA). This honor is based on the votes from region's sports information directors. She was an honorable mention All-American last year and also earned all-region honors for the Oilers in 2014.
Lyons, a first team all-GLIAC performer this season, is in the midst of her best season and has led Findlay all year with her precision attacks. To date, she has a hitting percentage of .406, which leads the GLIAC and is eighth best in the country. Lyons has 254 kills on 485 attacks and is second on the team with 90 total blocks. Thanks in part to Lyons high percentage, as a team, Findlay ranks sixth in the country with a hitting percentage of .286.
Lyons, from Dover, Ohio, has put together a great career as she has collected 627 kills and has a career hitting percentage of .315. That mark would place her second all-time at UF behind Taflinger who hit .347 in her career. However the 2015 season that Lyons has put together cannot be topped as her .406 is on pace to shatter the current record of .360, held by Taflinger, for hitting percentage in a season.
This is Lyons' first AVCA all-Midwest Region award of her career.
Nickyla Garverick, a second team all-conference performer this year, has put together two memorable seasons in her two years of action at Findlay. This season, Garverick has tallied 293 kills with a kill percentage of .385. That percentage is good for second in the conference behind teammate, Julie Lyons, and is good for 10th in the nation. Garverick has again led the Oilers at the net as she has picked up 97 total blocks this season.
Garverick, of Crestline, Ohio, will also break the old school-record for hitting percentage in a season, Taflinger's .360, but will find herself in second in the record books thanks to the play of Lyons. Garverick is on pace to crack the top ten in Oilers history for career blocks by next season as she has amassed 232 career blocks. 2008 graduate Caitlyn Yoder holds the 10th spot with 304 total blocks. Garverick will likely find herself in the top ten in block assists and solo blocks as well.
This is the second time in her career that Garverick has earned an AVCA all-Midwest Region honor. In her freshman season, Garverick also earned DII All-American honors.