Three Kats Named All-Southland Conference
11/16/2016 3:28:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
FRISCO, Texas – Jordyn Vaughn, Brooke White and Taylor Cunningham were each named to the all-Southland Conference team on Wednesday in an announcement from league officials.
Vaughn and White were each named to the league's first team, while Cunningham was named to the second team. It was the first such honor for each of the three players and is the most all-Southland selections for the Bearkats since they had four in 2012 and the fourth time in the last five years the team has landed two on the first team.
A junior outside hitter from Huntsville, Vaughn finished the regular season averaging 3.30 kills and 2.44 digs per set while hitting .156 for the year. She opened up the year with a season-high 22 kills and set a career high with 21 digs against McNeese. She added 20 digs in that match against the Cowgirls in what one of her 11 double-doubles on the season. That effort was part of a week that saw her named Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
Her 3.30 kills per set ranked fifth in the league for the year and she picked up at least 10 kills in 21 of Sam Houston's 29 matches this season, including eight of the last 10 to close out the year.
Meanwhile, White followed up a breakout sophomore campaign with an even better junior season in 2016. She posted career highs in kills per set (3.29), attack percentage (.181) and blocks per set (0.37) while also averaging 2.13 digs per set.
The outside hitter from Houston has had at least 10 kills in each of her last 15 matches to finish off the regular season, including two matches this season with at least 20 kills. She went for a career-best 28 kills in a five-set win over Rice on Sept. 10, the second most kills in a single match by a Southland player this year.
Cunningham saw marked improvements from a solid freshman season in 2016 with increases in kills and attack percentage with her block average nearly doubling from her first year on campus. The explosive sophomore middle blocker hit an efficient .257 for the year, which ranked second on the team, and was third on the roster with 2.42 kills per set. Her 0.87 blocks per set led the squad.
Also a Huntsville native, Cunningham had season highs 18 kills and seven blocks in a home win over Northwestern State on Oct. 20, and has swung at least a .250 clip in 12 of her last 14 matches to close out the season. She finished the regular season with 13 matches in double-figure kills and 10 times picked up at least four blocks in a match.
The trio along with the rest of the Bearkats earned the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament and will kick off the event with a first-round matchup against No. 6 Northwestern State. All matches will be played at the Farris Center in Conway, Ark.
