Three members of the Colorado College volleyball team – senior outside hitter Anna Clithero, sophomore middle blocker Emily Perkins, and freshman opposite hitter Meredith Ballard – earned all-conference honors from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Clithero, who ranked third in the conference averaging 3.23 kills per game and seventh with a .285 hitting percentage, was a first-team selection. She was the second-leading vote getter overall and received two votes for Player of the Year.
The product of West Linn, Ore., became CC’s career kills leader on Oct. 11 in a match at Birmingham-Southern College and she currently has 1,603 for her career. Clithero leads the team with 381 kills and 357 digs, and is the only player in school history to eclipse the 1,500 plateau in both career statistics.
Perkins, one of the top all-around players in the conference, was named to the second team after finishing the regular season ranked No. 6 with a .292 hitting percentage and a 3.04 kills per game average.
The native of Plano, Texas, led Colorado College with 452 points (the sum of kills, blocks and service aces), as well as solo and total blocks. She was second on the team in kills and digs (304), and third with 32 service aces.
Ballard was second in Freshman of the Year voting and was a third-team selection. She finished third on the team with 243.5 points and a 1.76 kills per game average. She was also third with a 0.40 blocks per game average and fourth among the starters with a .247 hitting percentage.
Ballard was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division III National Player of the Week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association after she had a combined .638 hitting percentage with 41 kills on 58 attacks to lead CC to four consecutive victories at the SCAC crossover matches at Austin College.
The Tigers finished the regular season with a 25-9 overall record and a 12-3 mark in the SCAC, which earned them the third seed at this weekend’s conference tournament.