Roberts named regional player of year

Hailey Roberts VB feature — Hailey Roberts earned a regional player of the year honor Wednesday, the first such award in Tarleton State volleyball history. || Courtesy CHET MARTIN

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STEPHENVILLE (December 2, 2015) — Just hours after being the first TexAnns in school history to earn recognition by the AVCA, Hailey Roberts and Kenya Alexander received first-team all-region recognition from D2CCA – which named Roberts the regional Player of the Year Wednesday.

The Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association, formerly Daktronics, announced its first and second team selections Thursday afternoon and Roberts, who claimed the region’s top honors, was placed on the first team alongside her TexAnn teammate, Kenya Alexander.

“It’s an incredible honor for Hailey and Kenya,” said head coach Mary Schindler. “They have meant so much to this program over the last two years and they have been incredible to coach. I know they’re excited and honored by the recognition, but at the same time they are focused on our next game. The awards are nice and I know they appreciate it, but they’re not ready for the season to be over. They are both fierce competitors, which is what leads to awards like this.”

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Roberts was named the D2CCA South Central Regional Player of the Year after leading the nation with 710 total kills and 5.77 kills per set. With 26 more kills, she will pass Sarah Butler’s record of 735 kills in 1999 for the single-season Lone Star Conference record.

This is the third all-region honor of her young career, including the second today after earning honors from the AVCA earlier this morning. This season, she has also been a four-time offensive player of the week by the LSC and won the AVCA Division II Player of the Week in October, she was named first-team all-LSC, and was the LSC Offensive Player of the Year after leading the TexAnns to their first conference championship in school history and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Regional Tournament.

“There is always something higher to reach for and bigger to dream for,” said Roberts.

Alexander also earned first-team recognition from D2CCA, marking her third all-region honor in her two-year Tarleton career.

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The senior from Fort Hood was a two-time LSC Defensive Player of the Week award winner this year and was named first-team all-LSC after helping Tarleton claim its first regular season title. She has started all 33 matches to date and has 168 blocks and 261 kills on the season. Her 168 blocks has her ranked No. 3 in the nation.

Tarleton, the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, will open the national playoffs tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. at the Junell Center in San Angelo against Colorado Mesa.