ST. LOUIS – Creighton, the nation’s 21st-ranked team and Missouri Valley Conference regular season champion, has claimed the league’s top individual honor, with the Bluejays’ senior setter Megan Bober taking the league’s Player of the Year honors. Her Bluejay teammate Kelli Browning has been tabbed the Valley’s Defensive Player of the Year, while Illinois State’s Jenny Menendez has been named the Libero of the Year. Illinois State’s Ashley Rosch earned the league’s top rookie award, being tabbed Freshman of the Year. Bober, Browning and Menendez headline a list of 19 student-athletes named to the 2012 MVC All-Conference teams, selected by the coaches, and announced by the league office Thursday. The all-conference teams will be recognized at an awards reception today in Springfield, Mo.

Creighton, along with UNI, Wichita State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois and Missouri State, the league’s top six finishers combined to place 18 athletes on the first- and second-team all-conference squads. The Bluejays and Panthers placed three players each on the first team, the most in the league, while Wichita State, Illinois State and Missouri State earned three combined honors on the first and second team. Southern Illinois, the tournament’s No. 4 seed, totaled two players on the all-conference first and second teams. 

Bober, an all-around talent that runs the offense of the league’s nationally-ranked Creighton Bluejays, ranks in the top-15 in the Valley in assists, hitting percentage, aces, blocks and digs. She is the only player in MVC history with at least 750 career kills, 4,000 assists, 1,000 digs and 350 blocks. She ranks second in Valley history with 15 career triple-doubles, including six this season. She is the nation’s only player averaging 9.50 assists, 0.90 blocks and 1.75 kills per set. She becomes the first Bluejay to win the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year honors.

Browning, one of the nation’s best blockers, has already set Creighton records for both blocks and block assists in a season, tallying 185 total blocks and 170 block assists already in 2012. She enters the championship ranked fourth in the nation with 1.68 blocks per set and her 15 block assists against Tulsa tied an MVC single-match record. She recorded five or more blocks in all but seven matches this season, including five matches with double-digit blocks. She is the second Creighton player to win the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year honor, joining 2008 winner Jessica Houts.

Menendez, one of the league’s most consistent back row players, ranks third in the league in digs per set (5.52) and 21st nationally. She tallied double-digit digs in all but one match this season, topping the 20-dig mark 12 times. She recorded a Illinois State record 40 digs against Southern Illinois (Nov. 16), which also ranks fifth-best all-time in Valley single-match history. She is the second Illinois State player to win the league’s Libero of the Year honor.

Rosch, a force on the outside from the Illinois State Redbirds, ranks seventh in the league in kills per set – averaging 3.10 in all contests. She leads the Redbirds with 316 kills, tallying double-digit kills in 18 matches, including a season-high 22 against Bradley on Sept. 22. She ranks second on the team in digs, averaging nearly 3.0 digs per set –the most for a freshman non-libero this season. She also registered 21 aces, ranking second among all freshmen. She is the fifth Illinois State player to earn the conference’s Freshman of the Year honor.

Creighton’s Kirsten Bernthal-Booth has guided the Bluejays to a 26-3 overall record and a 17-1 record in Valley action, leading the Bluejays to their first-ever regular-season title. The Bluejays enter the championship winners of a program-record 14 consecutive matches and as the No. 21 team in the latest AVCA poll – the Jays first-ever national ranking. Creighton enters the championship as the No. 1 seed for the first time in school history and are hoping to expand on their unbelievable season. 

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Megan Bober, Creighton
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Kelli Browning, Creighton
LIBERO OF THE YEAR: Jenny Menendez, Illinois State
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Ashley Rosch, Illinois State
COACH OF THE YEAR: Kirsten Bernthal-Booth, Creighton