Sophomore Madeleine Gates (left) and senior Sarah Sponcil.
Photo by: Han Duong (herewegobru.com)
Gates, Sponcil VolleyballMag.com All-Americans
December 23, 2017 | Women's Volleyball
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Senior Sarah Sponcilย and sophomore Madeleine Gates have been named VolleyballMag.com Honorable Mention All-Americans.ย The Bruins have won 65 VolleyballMag.com All-American accolades.
Gates, who was also named AVCAย Second Team All-American,ย AVCAย 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.
Sponcil, who was AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, 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. Sponcilย 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.
Players Mentioned
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