After earning the first seed in the Summit League tournament, six Kansas City Roos have earned recognition by the Summit League for their regular season performances.
On Nov. 18, the Summit League announced its 2023 honors which include two categories – Individual Awards and the All-Summit League Volleyball Team.
The Individual Awards include Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, among others. The All-Summit Volleyball Team includes First Team All-Summit League, Honorable Mention, and Freshman Team.
Here are the awards that were taken home by the Roos:
Coach of the Year – Christi Posey
Coach Posey earns her third Coach of the Year honor. This was her first accolade in the Summit League in her 13th season as the Roos head coach. The first two awards came in 2014 and 2018, in which the Roos went 24-6 (12-2 in conference) and 21-11 (11-5) respectively.
This season, Posey led Kansas City to its fifth 20-win season in program history.
Defensive Player of the Year – Leah Green
Green is an ace on the court — in a literal sense. In 98 sets played, the Roos’ junior libero recorded 35 service aces, but that sole stat isn’t what earned her Defensive Player of the Year.
In every match played, Green recorded at least 10 digs, ranking her first in conference play.
First-Team All-Summit
Odyssey Warren – Senior Outside Hitter
Warren was the Roos’ trump card in nearly every match this season. She was the story of the season and her single-season number of total attacks ranked her second all-time in the Roos record book.
Sydney Henry – Sophomore Setter
As the setter, Henry doesn’t light up the scoreboard with kills, but she established herself as one of the best setters in the Summit League in her second season. Averaging 10.2 assists per set, she ranked second in the conference. She was also third on the team in service aces with 30.
Leah Green – Junior Libero
Green continues to assert her dominance on the court by being awarded First Team All-Summit honors in addition to Defensive Player of the Year.
Honorable Mention All-Summit
Kaia Dunford – Senior Outside Hitter
Ranking at or just below 10th in nearly every offensive category in the Summit League, the Oral Roberts transfer made a huge impact for the Roos this season. Posting over 100 kills on nearly 400 total attacks, she ranked top-25 in hitting percentage in the conference.
Dunford was also fourth on the team in service aces, putting up 24 on the season.
Carly Gillen – Senior Middle Blocker
Gillen, a career Roo, was a staple on the court. She ranked fourth in hitting percentage during league play and laid claim to the 12th highest average blocks in the conference. She totaled 121 blocks on the season, averaging over one per set. Her 1.1 blocks per set ranks her just outside the top-125 nationally in the category. Gillen’s number of total blocks ranks her inside the top-50 nationally.
The fourth-seeded South Dakota Coyotes take on the fifth-seeded North Dakota State Bison this afternoon, and the winner of that match will take on first-seeded Kansas City Roos.
Watch the Roos’ match on Nov. 20 on the Summit League Network via Midco Sports.
