BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University women's volleyball team finished second in the Conference Carolinas standings, and on Monday four individuals were recognized when the league announced their all-conference awards. The Tornado awards were highlighted by
Brittney Ramsey, who was selected Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year and
Julie Ward who garnered first team all-conference honors.
Along with the defensive player of the year award, Ramsey was selected second team all-conference. Ramsey has had a great year in the middle for the Tornado as she leads Conference Carolinas with an average of 1.42 blocks per set. She is one of three individuals averaging better than 1.00 blocks per set as second place is at 1.11 blocks per set. The average of 1.42 blocks per set also ranks sixth in all of NCAA Division II. Ramsey leads the country in total blocks with 71 as 20 of those stuffs have been solo. Ramsey has recorded at least three blocks in all but two matches this season, including a season-high of seven stuffs three times.
Offensively, Ramsey leads the league with an attack percentage of .358, a mark that also ranks 25th in the nation. This season she has hit better than .500 in at match seven times, eclipsing the .300 attack percentage mark 11 times in 15 matches. Ramsey matched a career-high with 11 kills, recording an attack percentage of .526 in a win at Converse College.
This marks the second time Ramsey has earned All-Conference Carolinas honors as she garnered third team honors in 2019. Ramsey is also the first Tornado to be selected Conference Carolinas Defensive Player of the Year since Payton Tipton won the award in 2012 and 2013.
Ward earns first team All-Conference Carolinas honors for the third straight year as the 2019 Conference Carolina Player of the Year has had another spectacular season. The junior ranks fifth in the league with averages of 3.37 kills and 0.46 aces per set. On the defensive end, Ward's 3.31 digs per set average ranks 18th in the conference.
She has posted five double-doubles on the season and has nine matches with at least 10 kills and seven with at least 10 digs. She recorded a career-high 27 digs in a 3-1 Tornado win at Converse. In that match she also posted 22 kills, two shy of her career-high. At the service line, she registered a season-high six aces in a win over Montreat College.
Kayley Holtzclaw earned all-conference honors for the second straight season as she was selected to the second team. A season ago she garnered third team honors. This season Holtzclaw's 0.96 blocks per average ranks sixth in the league while her 15 solo stuffs ranks second in the conference behind teammate Ramsey. She posted a season-high six blocks in the season-opener at Lees-McRae College and has recorded at least three blocks in all but three matches this season.
Offensively Holtzclaw has been nearly as impressive, ranking fifth in the league with a .315 attack percentage. She eclipsed the 10-kill plateau three times, including a season-high 11 terminations and a .412 attack percentage in a win over Southern Wesleyan University. Holtzclaw had three matches this season where she hit at least .600 in a match.
Georgia Davis was selected third team all-conference, earning All-Conference Carolinas accolades for the first time in her career. The setter stuffed the stat sheet this season, playing all six rotations in different positions for the Tornado. Davis averaged 0.62 blocks per set, ranking her 16th in the conference while her average of 0.30 aces per set ranked 22nd in the league. As a setter she handed out 238 assists, added 41 kills, 86 digs and 31 blocks.
She posted her first two career double-doubles in wins over Converse and Lees-McRae and was selected Conference Carolinas Specialist of the Week. In the wins she accounted for a career-high 10 digs in each match while setting a career-high with 27 assists in the win over Converse.
