ALBANY, N.Y. — The UAlbany volleyball team was well represented at the 2018 America East Awards banquet on the campus of Stony Brook on Thursday evening. Nicole Otero was named the league's Defensive Specialist of the Year and Andersen Vaughan was tabbed the Rookie of the Year, while a total of six Great Danes combined for seven All-Conference honors.
Otero was tabbed the Defensive Specialist of the Year for a record third time in her career. She was also named to the All-Conference First Team for the second consecutive year, marking her fourth career All-Conference selection. On Sept. 7, the Guaynabo, Puerto Rico native became the fourth Great Danes to eclipse 1,500 digs, while her 1,856 career digs rank third all-time in program history. The senior is one of two players to play in all 94 sets this season and has accumulated 456 digs, a team-high 19 service aces and one kill. Her 4.98 digs per set rank first in the conference.
Vaughan, who also earned All-Rookie team honors, becomes the second Great Danes in as many years to win the award. Vaughan, a setter, is pacing the squad with 9.73 assists per set and has accumulated a team-best 584 helpers. The freshman owns 34 kills and has racked up 20 total blocks. She has posted five games with 40-plus assists and has tallied 12 service aces on the year.
Three Great Danes in juniors Chloe Evering, Akuabata Okenwa and sophomore Danielle Tedesco garnered Second Team All-Conference accolades. Evering, an outside hitting is second on the team with 205 kills and adds 45 digs and 30 blocks in 72 sets played. The San Marcos, Calif. native earned All-Academic honors, as well, for the second straight year. Evening owns a 3.98 GPA in biology.
Okenwa is boasting a team-best 276 kills and ranks third in the conference with 3.07 kills per set. Her 18 service aces are second on the team, while her 65 total blocks sit third. Okenwa paces all Great Danes with seven doubles and has posted double-digit kills in 16 contests this year. This season, Tedesco is recording career-highs in kills (162), blocks (85) and aces (17). This is her second stint on an All-Conference team after being tabbed an All-Rookie selection a season ago. The middle blocker is fourth in the league with 0.89 blocks per set and fifth with a .266 hitting percentage.
Freshman Grace Cozad joins Vaughan as an All-Rookie honoree. In her first season, Cozad has racked up 205 kills with 105 of them against league opponents. The outside hitter has played in 90 sets this year and is tallying 45 digs, 30 blocks and a .259 hitting percentage. Early this season, Cozad posted a personal-best 15 digs against Stony Brook to go along with six digs and two blocks.
