Big Ten honors 4 Nittany Lion volleyball players

Penn State’s Haleigh Washington, Megan Courtney and Aiyana Whitney were named All-Big Ten on Tuesday.

The conference announced postseason honors, with Washington earning a unanimous selection, one of seven women on the 14-player list to pick up every vote from the conference coaches. Washington ranks third in Division I in hitting at .442 and is 23rd in the nation in blocks per set (1.39).

Also, Kendall Pierce was named the Sportsmanship Award winner for the Nittany Lions (26-5).

Among individual awards from a vote of the coaches, Minnesota’s Daly Santana was named Player of the Year, Nebraska’s Justine Wong-Orantes is the Defensive Player of the Year, Wisconsin’s Lauren Carlini is the Setter of the Year, Minnesota’s Samantha Seliger-Swenson is the Freshman of the Yaer, and the Golden Gophers’ coach, Hugh McCutcheon was selected as the Coach of the Year by both his peers and the media.

Penn State has earned the No. 7 seed for the NCAA Tournament and will face Howard (18-13) in the first round at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Rec Hall.

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Big Ten honors 4 Nittany Lion volleyball players."