Three Kats earn all-WAC honors

DENVER, Colo. – The WAC released its postseason all-conference teams on Wednesday morning with three Sam Houston Bearkats landing on the squads, led by Ashley Lewis' first-team selection.

Lewis was the Kats' lone selection to the first team, while teammates Morgan Janda and Hannah Baker were each named to the all-WAC second team. Baker was also named to the WAC all-Freshman team.

Sam Houston, who claimed the WAC Southwest Division title and enters this weekend's WAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed, was the only team from the Southwest Division with three selections.

Coach Brenda Gray's team will open up the WAC Tournament on Thursday with the first match of the event, battling No. 8 Abilene Christian at 11:00 a.m. CT on ESPN+. With a win, the Kats would advance to the tournament semifinals against the winner of No. 4 Grand Canyon and No. 5 UTRGV.

Lewis' nod to the first team comes after she was named the Southland Conference Player of the Year for the Spring 2021 season, and is the third straight season she has been a first team choice to the Kats' respective league.

She averaged 3.73 kills and 3.39 assists per set for the season, ranking fourth in the WAC in kills per set. Lewis has reached double figures in kills in 20 of 23 matches this year, and 18 double-doubles.

The Houston native will enter the WAC Tournament with no less than 11 kills in any of her last 11 matches, including a season-high 23 at Tarleton. She also went over 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs for her career this season, making her just the eighth Bearkat in program history to reach 1,000 in each of those categories.

For Janda, her honor comes after being chosen to the all-Southland second team in the spring. A preseason all-WAC choice entering this year, Janda ranked fifth in the WAC with 9.62 assists per set for the season, but was also second in the league among setters with 0.66 kills per set.

She was named the MVP of the Bearkat Invitational to open the season and turned in a career-high 58 assists in a win at UT Arlington. She would later put up career highs of 18 digs and seven kills in a win over Tarleton.

Baker, meanwhile, has been one of the top liberos in the WAC from the beginning of the season. She was named to the all-tournament team at the Maverick Classic early in the year, tying a SHSU single-match record with 44 digs in a win over Tulsa during that event.

That effort helped her earn weekly honors from the WAC for the first time, also later earning a WAC Freshman of the Week nod after averaging 6.86 digs per set in wins over Tarleton and Abilene Christian later in the year.

In all, Baker was one of two players in the WAC to average at least 5.00 digs per set, ranking second in the league in that category behind only Taylor DeFalco from Grand Canyon, who was named the WAC Libero of the Year.

Three Kats earn all-WAC honors

Players Mentioned

Hannah Baker

Morgan Janda

Ashley Lewis

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