Six Warriors Honored in All-CCAA Awards; Rawson Earns Libero of the Year and Tanksley Receives Freshman of the Year
ALISO VIEJO, Calif.---The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) has announced the conference awards this evening, revealing six members of Stan State named for various awards. Malia Tanksley earned Freshman of the Year; Gabby Rawson is your Libero of the Year and part of the First Team All-CCAA; Alex Byrd is Second Team All-CCAA; Haley Burdo, Makenna Carrillo, Autumn Kirby, and Malia Tanksley are all honorable mentions.
This is the third year in a row that Alex Byrd and Gabby Rawson have received CCAA honors. Last year, they were both honorable mentions, and the year previous Byrd was an honorable mention while Gabby Rawson was Libero of the Year and First Team All-CCAA.
Malia Tanksley, a true freshman, finished her first season of college volleyball with 143 kills and 55 blocks, taking tenth in the conference with 0.81 blocks per set. She played in all 26 matches this season, recording a season-high 12 kills in the November 2 match against San Francisco State. Tanksley is the first Freshman of the Year in Stan State volleyball program history.
Gabby Rawson has earned her second Libero of the Year honors in her career, making her the first to earn the honors twice. She adds that to being First Team All-CCAA twice, an honorable mention, and seven-time Defensive Player of the Week with two of the nods coming this season. Rawson has a conference-leading 416 digs, equaling 4.43 digs per set. She also became the all-time career leader at Stan State in digs with 1,541 in her career. Her season-high 33 digs facing Cal State San Marcos is tied for the sixth-most in a single match.
Alex Byrd recorded the second-highest blocks on the team this season with 101, with 28 of them being solo blocks. She received FloCollege/CCAA Defensive Player of the Week honors twice this season. In her career, Byrd has recorded 339 blocks, becoming the all-time career leader. She is also third all-time in solo blocks with 82. Byrd and teammate Autumn Kirby are first and second in the conference in total blocks, with Byrd being second to Kirby's 102 blocks. Alex Byrd leads the conference in blocks per set, averaging 1.23. Her blocks per set also rank twenty-ninth in the nation.
Haley Burdo led the team with 470 assists and 197 digs this season, using those to also record five double-doubles. In her career, she reached eighth on the all-time career list for digs with 873, third in service aces with 145, and first in assists with 2,156. Burdo recorded 25 or more assists in four matches this season.
Makenna Carrillo earned 146 kills in the 21 matches she played in this season. She added 38 digs and 28 blocks as well. Her kills were the third highest on the team this year, with a season-high 12 kills in a single match at Cal State San Bernardino. She had .250 hitting percentage or above in 13 matches this season, finishing just shy overall at a .241 hitting percentage.
Autumn Kirby recorded 102 blocks this season (including 14 solo blocks), finishing the last week of the regular season with FloCollege/CCAA Defensive Player of the Week honors. Her 102 blocks lead the CCAA, just ahead of teammate Alex Byrd. Kirby is second in the conference in blocks per set with 1.16.
Stan State finished the regular season 19-7 overall with a 12-6 CCAA record, finishing third in the conference. They head to the CCAA Championship Tournament to play in the quarterfinals. On Thursday, November 21st, they will face the sixth seed Cal State East Bay at 3:00 p.m.
2024 CCAA Volleyball All‐Conference Team
Player of the Year: Samantha Campion, Cal Poly Pomona
Libero of the Year: Gabby Rawson, Stanislaus State
Setter of the Year: Kimberly DeBoer, San Francisco State
Newcomer of the Year: Charlotte Koerber, Cal Poly Pomona
Freshman of the Year: Malia Tanksley, Stanislaus State
Coach of the Year: Traci Dahl, Cal Poly Pomona
The complete list of conference awards can be found on the CCAA website here.
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