Allie Holland, Leisa Elisaia, Kash Williams Named To AVCA All-Northeast Region Team

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

Penn State women’s volleyball standouts Allie Holland, Seleisa Elisaia, and Kashauna Williams were selected to the 2022 AVCA all-northeast region team, which was announced Tuesday morning.

All three lead the Nittany Lions (26-7, 13-7 Big Ten) in different stat categories this season. The trio was also named All-Big Ten honorees when the conference’s postseason awards were announced on November 30. Outside hitter Alexa Markley landed on the Big Ten all-freshman team.

Holland is pacing Penn State’s defense with 155 total blocks and also leads the team in aces with 31. Her 1.37 blocks per set ranks eighth in the Big Ten. Elisaia is third in the conference with 10.38 assists per set, while her 1,287 total assists is currently best in the Big Ten. Williams is ninth in the conference with 3.41 kills per set and leads the Nittany Lions with 402 so far.

Holland, Elisaia, and Williams were among 211 players from 108 different Division I programs who were recognized by the AVCA, which will later announce its All-American teams and honorable mention nods during the Final Four.

The No. 4 seed Nittany Lions will play No. 1 seed Wisconsin (27-3, 19-1 Big Ten) in Thursday’s Sweet 16 match in Madison on ESPNU, which will take place 30 minutes after No. 2 Pitt and No. 3 seed Florida face off in the earlier match scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. Tickets for the Wisconsin regional sold out within five minutes Monday.

Ohio State’s Emily Londot took home AVCA northeast region player of the year honors, while Purdue’s Eva Hudson was the region’s freshman of the year after collecting the same title from the Big Ten. Wisconsin’s Kelly Sheffield earned the region’s coach of the year laurels after leading the Badgers to their fourth straight Big Ten title.

Katie Schumacher-Cawley is the only first-year head coach to lead their program to this year’s Sweet 16, which features five Big Ten teams — three more than the next-closest conference. The Big Ten is 11-1 so far in this year’s NCAA tournament, as Purdue is the only team from the conference to lose.

During the post-match press conference following Penn State’s 3-1 win over UCF last Saturday at Rec Hall in the round of 32, Holland discussed the Nittany Lions’ strengths as a team. This is Penn State’s 35th appearance in the NCAA regional semifinals.

β€œI think that one of our biggest strengths is working through adversity,” Holland said. “I also think that one of our biggest strengths is team chemistry. We go out there and we have fun together, but we also are good at going through adversity, which will happen in the tournament, because every team is just really good.”