ST. LOUIS – Evansville junior right side hitter Giulia Cardona earned the league’s Player of the Year award, highlighting this season’s honorees. UNI senior Tayler Alden has been named the Setter of the Year, Drake senior Jada Wills took home the league’s Libero of the Year honor, while Indiana State’s Kira Holland claimed the conference’s Freshman of the Year award. Cardona, Alden, Wills and Holland headline a list of 20 student-athletes named to the 2023 MVC All-Conference teams, selected by the coaches, and announced by the league office Saturday.
Valley regular-season champion UNI placed five players on the first and second team all-conference squads, while Drake and UIC each placed a total of three players on the first and second teams. Missouri State, Southern Illinois and Valparaiso each placed two on the first and second teams, while Evansville, Illinois State and Murray State each had one selection.
Cardona becomes the first Evansville player to win the conference Player of the Year award. The junior finished the season as the national leader in kills (5.34/set), points (6.14/set) and attempts (15.00/set) while ranking 11th in the nation and tops in the MVC with 0.54 service aces per set. Cardona was also named the AVCA GameChanger Division I National Player of the Week on October 17 becoming just the second player in league history to earn the accolade. She also became the first Valley player to average over 5.00 kills per set since Lindsay Stalzer from Bradley did so in 2006.
Alden averaged 10.44 assists per set this season and helped the Panthers lead the nation in team assists per set. During the year, Alden surpassed 3,000 career assists. During league play, the senior led The Valley, averaging 10.95 assists per set. Alden is the first-ever repeat winner of the MVC Setter of the Year award and joins Illinois State’s Stef Jankiewicz as the only players to win the award twice.
Wills becomes the first Bulldog to win The Valley Libero of the Year award. The senior led the conference with 641 total digs, averaging 5.77 per set during the season. Her 5.77 digs per set average enters The Valley tournament ranking third nationally. During league matches this year, Wills averaged 5.80 digs per set.
Holland becomes the first Indiana State volleyball player to earn a Valley specialty award. She led all MVC freshmen with 316 kills and 3.59 kills per set, ranking seventh in the MVC in kills per set and ninth among all Division I freshmen in kills per set. She also added 238 digs (2.70 per set) which ranked third among Valley freshmen. She had seven double-doubles in MVC matches this season. Holland was also a six-time MVC Freshman of the Week, becoming just the third player in conference history to earn six or more Freshman of the Week honors.
UNI’s Bobbi Petersen picks up her Valley-record eighth MVC Coach of the Year honor after guiding the Panthers to their 21st regular season Valley title. Petersen guided the Panthers to 20+ wins for the 20th time in her 24-year career at UNI and her 581 career wins are the most in Valley history. She coached the Panthers to an unbeaten MVC record for a fourth time in her tenure and their 21st MVC regular season title (11th under her watch). She enters the tournament riding a 19-match winning streak, currently the fifth-longest active streak in the nation.
Click here for full list of all-conference release.