Story named Setter/Freshman of the Year; Halacheva, Pitts, and Shreffler also honored

Headlined by Setter and Freshman of the Year honors for Gracie Story, the Cowley College volleyball team saw three members earn Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference regular season honors and four players named All-District, as announced on Wednesday.

"This season was a challenging one with COVID and other items. We are honored that the conference chose to recognize these wonderful players and our program," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "I am very proud of these players' hard work and their perseverance to overcome those challenges of the season to achieve these honors."

Voted on by the league's coaches, Story was one of two Lady Tigers named to the KJCCC First Team, joining sophomore Iva Halacheva with her second straight First Team honor, while freshman Maddy Pitts was tabbed Honorable Mention All-Conference.

With Story's Setter and Freshman of the Year accolade, she is the second consecutive Lady Tiger to earn the Setter of the Year award with Caroline Foster being awarded Setter of the Year in 2019. She is also Cowley's first conference Freshman of the Year recipient since Hannah Nicolaisen in 2017.

"Gracie carried us offensively and helped our hitters do what they needed to do," Gream said.

Story is third in the NJCAA with 10.75 assists per set and was the league-leader with 10.67 assists per set during conference play. Her 1,043 assists rank 10th most in program history in a season.

Halacheva finished the season with 978 career kills placing her third in Cowley volleyball history. For the season, she led the NJCAA in kills (503), kills per set (5.19), points (558.0) and points per set (5.80), during the regular season. She finished the season with a team-high 12 double-doubles.

"There are not enough words to say what Iva has meant to our team," Gream said. "She was a great leader and was the glue that held us together."

Pitts finished conference play with eight double-digit kill performances, including a career-high 17 kills against Highland. She finished her freshman year with 210 kills.

"Maddy was a big reason why we played so much better the second half of the season," Gream said.

In addition to the KJCCC All-Conference honors, four Lady Tigers earned All-Region District honors. Halacheva and Story were named First Team All-District and Pitts and Macy Shreffler were named Second Team All-District.

Shreffler finished conference play with 13 double-digit kill performances and ended the season with 259 kills.

"Macy has that wow factor with her ability for powerful kills," Gream said. "She grew as the season went along and took pressure off Iva."