By Justin Renck:

It has been a tremendous year for the UofL Volleyball team to this point. They won the Big East regular season title, and are now attempting to win the Big East Tournament and hopefully make a big NCAA Tournament run. You don’t have that kind of success without great players and a great coach, and those things were recognized at the Big East Banquet in Milwaukee, Wisconsin prior to the tournament starting.

Lola Arslanbekova was named the Big East Player of the Year, and she is the first player to win that award in consecutive years since 1997. She is the only active player in NCAA Division I with 2,000 or more kills and 1,000 or more digs. She has been an All-Big East First Team member in all of her 4 years at UofL.

UofL head coach Anne Kordes was named co-Big East Volleyball Coach of the Year along with UConn’s Holly Strauss-O’Brien. She has been named conference coach of the year 4 times. This was her first at UofL, and the other 3 were when she was at St. Louis.

The Cards also put other members on the All-Big East 1st and 2nd teams! Gwen Rucker was named to the 1st team, while Brooke Mattingly and Caitlin Welch were named to the 2nd team. Here are the full teams:

2012 BIG EAST CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL AWARDS

BIG EAST Player of the Year

Lola Arslanbekova, Louisville, Sr., OH

BIG EAST Libero of the Year

Alyssa Warren, Seton Hall, Jr.

BIG EAST Freshman of the Year

Erin Fairs, USF, OH

BIG EAST Coaches of the Year

Anne Kordes, Louisville

Holly Strauss-O’Brien, Connecticut

2012 All-BIG EAST VOLLEYBALL TEAM

First Team

Toni Alugbue, Notre Dame, So., MB

Lola Arslanbekova, Louisville, Sr., OH *

Danielle Carlson, Marquette, Sr., MH

Jeni Houser, Notre Dame, So., RS

Elizabeth Koberstein, Marquette, Jr., S

Shelbey Manthorpe, Seton Hall, So., S

Holly Mertens, Marquette, Sr., RS *

Karin Palgutova, St. John’s, Fr., OH

Mattison Quayle, Connecticut, Sr., OH

Gwen Rucker, Louisville, Sr., MH

Jordanne Scott, Cincinnati, Sr., MB/RS *

Kayla Walton, USF, Jr., RS

* – unanimous selection

Second Team

Maggie Brindock, Notre Dame, Jr., S

Erin Fairs, USF, Fr., OH

Emily Hayden, Cincinnati, Sr., MB/RS

Emily MacIntyre, Cincinnati, Jr., DS

Stacey Manthorpe, Seton Hall, So., OH/OPP

Brooke Mattingly, Louisville, Jr., MB

Becca Refenes, Cincinnati, Sr., MB

Silvi Uattara, Syracuse, Fr., OH

Alyssa Warren, Seton Hall, Jr., L

Caitlin Welch, Louisville, Jr., DS

Dani White, Georgetown, So., MB

Monica Wignot, Pittsburgh, Jr., OH

Vesela Zapryanova, DePaul, Jr., OH

(extra player because of tie-breaker)