Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Place Three on AVCA Teams
12/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
East Lansing, Michigan -- Senior Kori Moster (Cincinnati, Ohio), sophomore Chloe Reinig (South Lyon, Michigan) and freshman Rachel Minarick (Naperville, Illinois) earned Honorable Mention All-America Honors, as announced on Wednesday morning by the American Volleyball Coaches Association of America (AVCA).
Reinig and Minarick both are honored by the AVCA for the first time, while Moster earns All-America distinction for the third time in her career, the first player in program history to accomplish the feat three times in a Spartan uniform. Val Sterk, a two-time First Team pick (1995, 1996), and Lauren Wicinski (second team in 2012 and 2013) are the only Spartan players to earn it twice. Wicinski, who transferred from Northern Illinois prior to the 2012 season, was an Honorable Mention pick as a freshman and a third-team selection as a sophomore at NIU.
MSU has a player honored by the AVCA for the fourth consecutive season, the longest streak in program history. It is also the third straight year that MSU has multiple honorees; MSU had two in 2012 (Moster and Wicinski), and three last season (Moster, Wicinski, and middle blocker Alexis Mathews). MSU had a program-high four players earn All-Region honors, as announced last week; in addition to Moster and Reinig, freshman setter Rachel Minarick was a first team pick, while sophomore Allyssah Fitterer was an Honorable Mention All-Region selection.
"We're so proud of what our players accomplish," said head coach Cathy George. "Kori has meant so very much to our program, and the fact that she is the only player to ever earn these honors three times as a Spartan adds to her legacy both as a player and a leader. She's helped us bring our program to another level over the last four seasons, and with four all-region picks this year, I think it shows that we're looking to take yet another step.
"Chloe rebounded from starting her career with mono, and showed that she has the ability and drive to compete with the best players both inside the Big Ten and across the nation," continued George. "Rachel came in as a freshman and grew leaps and bounds as she adjusted to running a 5-1, all while we played one of the most difficult schedules in the country. Their experience will help us take a step as a team next year, too. I'm just so happy to see them all recognized for the work that they have put in."
Moster, an Honorable Mention All-Big Ten selection, and 2012 and 2013 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year recently earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the third time in her career.. Among the top players at her position in the country, Moster will graduate with the Spartan career digs record (2,217), which ranks third all-time among Big Ten career dig leaders. Moster averaged 4.62 digs per set as a senior, which ranks third in the Big Ten overall. She has held the school's career digs record since her junior season, and holds four of the top eight single-season dig performances in school history. Her 550 digs this season is fourth among single-season MSU marks. Over 10 career NCAA Tournament matches, Moster averaged 5.24 digs per set. Her career-best of 29 digs first came against San Diego in the first round of her sophomore season, and she had 26 in the this year's first round match vs. . LMU. Moster posted double-digit digs in 30 of the 33 Spartan matches this season, and in 137 career matches, she has been held with less than 10 digs only 18 times; six of those occasions were her first six collegiate matches. A part of the US Collegiate National Team which toured China last June, Moster has her sights set in competing for a spot with the US National Team.
Reinig, who earned both All-Big Ten honors and Academic All-Big Ten kudos this season after being selected to the All-Freshman Team a year ago, averaged 3.7 kills per set in 2014, good for fourth among Big Ten players. She had just eight matches this season where she was held with nine kills or fewer. She has gone for 20+ kills four times this season, including in back-to-back matches vs. Michigan. She also posted her first two career double-doubles against Illinois (16K/10D) and Minnesota (13K, 10D), and had 34 combined kills vs. Loyola-Marymount (19) and Stanford (15) in the NCAA tournament. Reinig ranks fifth in the Big Ten in points per match (4.14/s), and was named to the All-Tournament Team at both the UAB/Samford and MSU Invitational Tournaments.
Minarick, the Spartans' first-year setter, grew by leaps and bounds over the course of the season. An All-Freshman Team selection in the Big Ten, she averaged 10.24 assists per set, good for fourth in the Conference, and during the NCAA Tournament, had two of her top three assist-producing matches, putting up 52 in a tough four-set loss at Stanford (three off her career best) along with 48 vs. Loyola-Marymount. The versatile first-year also averaged 1.16 kills per set while hitting .384 on the year, while averaging 1.95 digs and 0.58 blocks per set and leading the team in service aces (23). She earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Oct. 20, after 11.0 assists per set in two matches against Maryland and Rutgers, helping the Spartans to their first B1G weekend sweep of the season.
