UNIVERSITY PARK — Three Penn State women’s volleyball players earned All-East Coast Region honors as announced by the American Volleyball Coaches Association this week.

Gillian Grimes, Kennedy Martin, and Maggie Mendelson all received the award after helping the Nittany Lions qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the 45th-consecutive season.

Grimes earned All-East Coast Region for the first time following her final collegiate season. She was named the Big Ten Libero of the Year.. Defensively, she finished with 441 digs and contributed offensively with her 30 aces.

Martin set program records for the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present) in kills (634), kills/set (5.42), points (728) and points/set (6.22). She was a first-team All-Big Ten selection in her first season in the conference and now adds All-East Coast Region recognition to the two All-Southeast Region awards.

Mendelson closes her collegiate volleyball career with her first All-East Coast Region award. The middle blocker hit .363 with 2.19 kills/set and tallied 91 blocks to lead the team’s defense at the net. She had 10 matches with double-digit kills, nine of which came during Big Ten play. She hit .500 or better in five of those matches.

Pitt shines

PITTSBURGH — Head Coach Dan Fisher and Olivia Babcock headlined a strong showing of AVCA East Coast Region honors for the Pitt Panthers women’s volleyball team.

Fisher was named AVCA East Coast Region Coach of the Year for the fourth time, while Babcock earned her second straight AVCA East Coast Region Player of the Year award. In total, six Panthers, Babcock, Brooke Mosher, Bre Kelley, Blaire Bayless, Marina Pezelj and Ryla Jones, were recognized for standout seasons.

Fisher earns his second consecutive East Coast Region Coach of the Year honor after guiding Pitt to its fourth straight ACC Championship and sixth consecutive Regional Semifinal. The Panthers also secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, giving them the opportunity to host through the National Semifinal.

Babcock repeats as Region Player of the Year, adding another major accolade to her remarkable junior campaign. She is averaging 5.89 points per set and has collected five ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Babcock earned AVCA National Player of the Week recognition after breaking the program record with 41 kills against Louisville — a record she later reset with 45 kills against North Carolina. She was also named First Team All-ACC for the third straight year and is an AVCA National Player of the Year semifinalist.