Halacheva adds to her already stellar resume

Cowley College sophomore Iva Halacheva has added yet another award for her stellar 2020-21 season earning the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Two Year College Second Team All-American award.  

The honor is for all two year schools in the nation and includes players from the NJCAA D-I, D-II, NJCAA D-III, the California Community College Athletic Association and the Northwest Athletic Conference totaling 462 programs. Players who received All-America honors in each league were put together and voted on to make one of the three All-America teams. Each of the three AVCA All-America teams are comprised of 15 athletes. Of the 45 selections, 12 players were selected from the NJCAA D-II ranks. 

"The AVCA is a prestigious organization that works each day to promote the sport and the players," Cowley head coach Steven Gream said. "This honor is very special in that it is not only for our very competitive NJCAA D-II league, but all of the two-year college leagues combined. So, for Iva to receive this honor is very exceptional and exciting to see her honored among the top players in the nation in 2020-21." 

Halacheva secures another impressive achievement from this season after ending the year with 503 kills, tops in the NJCAA, at a 5.19 per set clip which also ranked first in the NJCAA. The Plovdiv, Bulgaria native notched double-digit kills in all 27 matches on the year. Halacheva's career high 37 kills came against Highland College (and also set a Cowley record), while recording eight matches with at-least 20 kills. Halacheva also ended the year first in points and points per set in the NJCAA. Along with her 503 kills she also posted a .336 hitting percentage, 210 digs, 28 aces and 49 blocks. Halacheva also finished the season third in Cowley history in total kills in a career with 978 kills. 

Halacheva's latest addition to the accolades becomes her 10th individual award of the season. Halacheva took home NJCAA First Team All-American honors in addition to first team all-conference and all-district honors, earned four KJCCC offensive player of the week awards, won the AVCA's Two Year College National Player of the Week award, and NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week honors. 

"Iva was an outside hitter that gave us a strong leader that was a huge part of our high powered offense with a strong attack combined with her great defense and serving skills," Gream said. "Her hard work and determination to improve each day, allowed her to play at the level of play that she did." 

Halacheva's selection moves the Lady Tiger's streak to four-consecutive years of having a player named AVCA All-American. She becomes the 11th player in program history to receive the honor with a total of 12 AVCA All-American awards.