Gates, Muno, Sponcil Named AVCA All-Americans

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LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sophomore Madeleine Gates has been named an AVCA Second Team All-American, as announced on Wednesday, while senior Sarah Sponcil and junior Zana Muno both earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-American plaudits.

It is the first career All-American award for both Gates and Muno and the third for Sponcil, who was an Honorable Mention winner at Loyola Marymount in 2015 and 2016. UCLA has earned 53 AVCA All-American awards.

Gates, who was also named AVCA Pacific South All-Region First Team and All-Pac-12 Conference First Team, led the Bruins this season with 1.19 blocks per set and a .338 hitting percentage, also finishing second with 3.55 points per set and third with 2.82 kills per set. Gates was first on the squad with 15 matches with at least five blocks. She totaled a career high in her first contest of the season against San Diego (Aug. 25) when she had 10, adding an eight-block contest versus Arizona (Nov. 3) and seven-block affairs against Marquette (Aug. 26), New Mexico State (Sept. 1), Nebraska (Sept. 8), Colorado (Nov. 9) and California (Nov. 19). Gates was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 6. Offensively, Gates produced 15 matches with double figures in kills and at least six kills in all but one contest. Her season and career high came at Stanford on Nov. 16 when she recorded 22. She added 17 kills and no hitting errors in 29 attempts (season-best .586 percentage) against Oregon on Sept. 22 and 16 kills versus Hawai'i (Aug. 27) and Washington State (Oct. 27). On 11 occasions, Gates hit at least .400, including six matches in a row from Oct. 29 through Nov. 16.

Muno, who was named AVCA All-Region Honorable Mention, led the Bruins with 4.97 digs per set, producing a team-best 26 double-figure digs contests and 16 with at least 20. The junior's season and career high came at Hawai'i when she recorded 34. By virtue of that effort, she was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Aug. 28. Muno would bookend her regular season with DPOW awards, also earning the honor on Nov. 27. Eleven of her 20-dig matches came during Pac-12 play, including eight in a row from Oct. 1 to Nov. 3. She had 28 in a win at Colorado (Oct. 21), 26 versus Utah (Nov. 10) and 25 in just three sets at Washington (Oct. 29). In the final week of the regular season, Muno became the 24th Bruin to surpass the 1,000-dig mark. Two of her three matches in the NCAA Championship also were 20-dig affairs, as she recorded 26 to go with a career-best four aces in the Second Round against Cal Poly (Dec. 2) and 20 in the Regional Semifinal at Florida (Dec. 8).

Sponcil, who was AVCA All-Region First Team and All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention, led the Bruins with 11.23 assists per set and was second with 3.35 digs per set, adding 19 service aces, 0.53 blocks per set and 53 kills. Sponcil was tops on the squad with 20 double-doubles, including eight of nine matches to end the season. She went over the 20-dig mark three times with a career-high 25 at Colorado, 24 versus Cal Poly and 22 at Stanford. Sponcil was over the 40-assist mark 16 times and the 50-assist plateau on six occasions, producing a personal-best 63 at Colorado. She served an ace in five matches in a row from Oct. 27 to Nov. 9 and also had at least one kill in 25 of 32 matches, including a season-best eight at Washington State.

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Gates, Muno, Sponcil Named AVCA All-Americans

Players Mentioned

Madeleine Gates

Zana Muno

Sarah Sponcil

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

Gates, Muno, Sponcil Named AVCA All-Americans

Players Mentioned

Madeleine Gates

Zana Muno

Sarah Sponcil

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