Shemanova Named ACC Freshman of the Year, Three Earn All-ACC Honors

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Three Syracuse volleyball players are All-Atlantic Coast Conference honorees, headlined by 2018 Freshman of the Year Polina Shemanova. Shemanova is the program's first Freshman of the Year, also earning All-ACC First Team and ACC All-Freshman honors. Senior Santita Ebangwese joins Shemanova on the All-ACC First Team, while senior Amber Witherspoon is on the All-ACC Second Team.

This marks the first multiple All-ACC First Team selections in school history, and ties for the program's most all-conference honorees.

Florida State's Payton Caffrey is the 2018 ACC Player of the Year. Defensive Player of the Year accolades belong to Notre Dame's Ryann DeJarld while Louisville's Wilma Rivera is Setter of the Year. For the second straight season, Pittsburgh's head coach Dan Fisher earns the ACC Coach of the Year award.

A three-time ACC Freshman of the Week, Shemanova ranks second in the ACC and 26^th nationally with 4.28 kills per set. She has recorded double-digit kills in 24 of 26 matches this season – including nine 20+ kill performances. Her 14 kills in the regular-season finale moved her to 425 on the season, the most in a single-season by a Syracuse freshman and is 10^th all-time at Syracuse. She is the only ACC player to tally a 30-kill match this season and the first Syracuse freshman to do so. Shemanova has tallied 14 double-doubles this season and leads the Orange with 262 total digs.

Ebangwese makes the All-ACC team for the second time in her career as one of two unanimous selections. She is on pace to set new school records for single-season hitting percentage and career hitting percentage. Her single-season .419 mark ranks fourth nationally this season and her career .349 hitting percentage is 22^nd among active Division 1 players. Ebangwese also ranks in the Syracuse top-10 in career solo blocks, block assists, total blocks and blocks per set. While at Syracuse she has also been named CoSIDA Academic All-District, Senior CLASS Award Finalist and 2017 AVCA East Region All-American.

Witherspoon picks up her first All-ACC selection. The redshirt senior is averaging 1.54 blocks per set, ranking seventh in the nation. Earlier this season, she recorded an ACC-best 14 blocks against Virginia Tech. Witherspoon has recorded at least one kill and one block in every match this season and has a .343 hitting percentage.

Syracuse (18-8, 14-4 ACC) will make the program's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament this week. The Orange travel to University Park where they will face Yale in the first round on Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. Should Syracuse advance they will take on the winner of eighth-seeded Penn State/Howard on Dec. 1.

2018 ACC VOLLEYBALL HONORS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Payton Caffrey, Florida State
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Ryann DeJarld, Notre Dame
SETTER OF THE YEAR: Wilma Rivera, Louisville
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Polina Shemanova, Syracuse
COACH OF THE YEAR: Dan Fisher, Pittsburgh

FIRST TEAM ALL-ACC
Leah Meyer***, Jr., MB, Duke
Andie Shelton, Gr., S, Duke
Payton Caffrey, Jr., OH, Florida State
Taryn Knuth**, So., MB, Florida State
Wilma Rivera**, Sr., S, Louisville
Melanie McHenry**, Jr., OH, Louisville
Molly Sauer****, Sr., L, Louisville
Haley Templeton****, Sr., S, Miami
Layne Van Buskirk^**, Jr., MH, Pitt
Nika Markovic***, Jr., RS, Pitt
Kayla Lund**, So., OH, Pitt
Stephanie Williams***, Jr., OH, Pitt
Santita Ebangwese^***, Sr., MB, Syracuse
Polina Shemanova, Fr., OH, Syracuse

SECOND TEAM ALL-ACC
Brooke Bailey, So., OH, Clemson
Kelsey Wicinski, Sr., L, Florida State
Mikaila Dowd, Fr., OH, Georgia Tech
Elizaveta Lukianova, So., OH, Miami
Kylie Pickrell**, Sr., S, NC State
Teni Sopitan, Sr., OH, NC State
Melissa Evans**, So., RS, NC State
Ryann DeJarld***, Sr., L, Notre Dame
Charley Niego, Fr., OH, Notre Dame
Sydney Bent, Fr., OH, Notre Dame
Zoe Nunez, Fr., S, Notre Dame
Jemma Yeadon***, Jr., OH, Notre Dame
Amber Witherspoon, Sr., MB, Syracuse
Jaila Tolbert***, Sr., RS, Virginia Tech

ALL-FRESHMEN TEAM
Gabby Easton, S, Clemson
Solei Thomas, RS, Clemson
Ade Owokoniran, OH, Duke
Mikaila Dowd, OH, Georgia Tech
Mariana Brambilla, OH, Georgia Tech
Zoe Nunez, S, Notre Dame
Charley Niego, OH, Notre Dame
Sydney Bent, OH, Notre Dame
Polina Shemanova, OH, Syracuse

^denotes unanimous selection
*denotes number of All-ACC honors

Syracuse University Athletics

Shemanova Named ACC Freshman of the Year, Three Earn All-ACC Honors

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Players Mentioned

Santita Ebangwese

Polina Shemanova

Amber Witherspoon

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