Tampa Volleyball Has Four AVCA All-American Selections and National Coach of the Year
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tampa volleyball has four players receive AVCA All-American honors. Claudia Rivera leads the way as a Second-Team All-America selection as Katie McKiel, Sorrel Houghton, and Taylor Fosler each earn Honorable mentions. Head Coach Chris Catanach has been named Division II Coach of the Year.
This season, Rivera was a First-Team All-SSC selection. She recorded a conference leading 543 digs in the regular season while averaging 5.27 per set. She is having the best year of her career as she passed a career milestone 1,000 digs earlier in the season. Recently, she was both an AVCA South Region selection and a First-Team D2CCA All-Region selection.
McKiel also earned First-Team All-SSC honors. She recently was selected to both the AVCA South Region and D2CCA All-Region First-Teams. Over the course of the season, she recorded 308 kills and averaged 2.91 kills/set. In her fifth season with the Spartans, McKiel recorded a career milestone 1,500 kills.
This season Fosler recorded 140 kills and hit a career high .477% which led the SSC. She was 7th in the conference in blocks, and first in hitting percentage (.473) as she was awarded an All-SSC Second Team selection. She was also an AVCA South Region Honorable Mention and apart of the Second-Team D2CCA All-Region Team.
In her fifth season for the Spartans Houghton, was an AVCA South Region team selection after recording 273 kills at a rate of 2.6 per set. Like McKiel, Houghton recorded 1,500 career kills.
Coach Catanach is in his 38th season at the helm of the program, he has led the Spartans to an overall record of 31-2. Tampa were crowned Sunshine State Conference and South Region champions. In his 19th trip to the elite eight, Catanach looks to lead the Spartans to their fourth national championship this week.
To follow the Spartans on their National Championship quest, you can follow along at diivolleyball.com