Volleyball's Marshall, Ellis Receive Pac-12 Honors
December 01, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team had a pair of athletes receive Pac-12 honors for the 2015 season, as each of sophomore outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall and freshman libero Kayla Ellis received conference accolades, the league and commissioner Larry Scott announced on Tuesday.
Marshall was selected all-conference for the second consecutive season, earning a Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention for her sophomore campaign. Ellis was tabbed a Pac-12 All-Freshman Honorable Mention.
With double-digit kills in 22 of 30 matches this season, Marshall recorded a total of 407 for her 2015 campaign, terminating at a rate of 3.77 per set, the eighth-highest rate in the Pac-12. Most notably, Marshall recorded 30 kills in the Beavers' win over Utah on Oct. 2, the most kills in a single match by any athlete in the Pac-12 this season.
“It's great to see Mary-Kate have a very similar year to what she had as a freshman, now that every defense is geared to stop her,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “Despite some inconsistent setting, it was good to still see her be able to get her kills every match as she did during the entire year. I think this will solidify her as one of the true top outside hitters in the conference. She's only going to get better in her junior and senior years.”
The Coppell, Texas native hoisted herself to the eighth-best points per set rate (4.20) in the conference with a team-high 22 service aces and 45 blocks, the fourth-highest number of total blocks on the team. Marshall rounded out a solid sophomore campaign with 226 digs, the second-best total among OSU athletes in 2015.
Ellis finished as Oregon State's digs leader in her freshman season, pacing the club with 365 digs as well as a team-high digs rate of 3.41 per set. Her digs total of 365 is the fifth-most by a freshman in program history, while her average of 3.41 digs per set is the third-highest rate in school history.
“Kayla was in a challenging position, because she became the starting libero in the midst of the third weekend,” Liskevych said. “She played very well as a freshman and I think she is going to be better and better as we move forward in the next few years. She possesses a lot of great qualities besides the volleyball skills, in that she's a great floor leader, she's vocal and she's a competitor, all of which bode well for her being outstanding in the years to come.”
A native of Pocatello, Idaho, Ellis closed the 2015 season ranked 10th in the Pac-12 in digs per set, as well as second among freshmen. She recorded 288 digs in 20 conference matches for a rate of 3.95 digs per set, tops among all freshmen in the Pac-12 and eighth-best amongst all Pac-12 athletes in 2015.
For more information on the Oregon State volleyball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeavsVolleyball, by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateVolleyball or on Instagram at Instagram.com/OregonStateVolleyball.
