Lewis named Player of the Year, Janda second team

FRISCO – Ashley Lewis became the fourth Sam Houston Bearkat to be named the Southland Conference Player of the Year and Morgan Janda was named to the all-conference second team on Tuesday, highlighting the league's postseason awards.

Lewis was also named to the all-SLC first team for the second straight year and joins Taylor Cunningham (2018), Deveny Wells-Gibson (2012) and Julie Franzen (1993) as Bearkats who have been named the Southland's top player.

Lewis was a preseason all-conference first team choice and lived up to it during the 12-match league season, a year abbreviated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She went for 25 kills and 25 digs in the opening match of the year and had no less than 10 kills in any match this year.

She set a career high with 27 kills in a win at Houston Baptist and picked up nine double-doubles. Her 4.36 kills per set leads the Southland and ranks 23^rd among all players in the country this year, and she did it efficiently, swinging at a .212 clip on 624 total attacks.

The 6-rotation native of Houston was twice named the league's player of the week and made a defensive impact as well, averaging a career-high 3.57 digs per set.

For Janda, her selection to the second team is her first postseason league honor as she becomes the first Bearkat setter to land on an all-SLC team since Michelle Griffin in 2024.

She averaged 6.89 assists and 3.02 digs per set as the Kats' primary setter, directing an offense that was second in the league in kills per set and fourth in attack percentage. Janda finished with eight double-doubles of her own, going over 30 assists five times.

She doled out a season-high 34 assists in wins at Southeastern Louisiana and over UIW and had a career-best 21 digs in a 5-set win at Houston Baptist.

Lewis, Janda and the rest of the Bearkats finished the regular season with a 10-2 mark and enter this week's Southland Tournament in Corpus Christi as the No. 2 seed. By virtue of that seed, they automatically advance to the tournament semifinals where they will play at noon on Friday on ESPN+.

The remaining side of the Kats' bracket includes No. 3 Southeastern Louisiana, No. 6 Central Arkansas and No. 7 Abilene Christian.

Lewis named Player of the Year, Janda second team

Players Mentioned

Morgan Janda

Ashley Lewis

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