University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Cole named UNC's first AVCA NCAA DI All-American
12/14/2022 8:47:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LEXINGTON, Ky.—Following a standout junior season, Northern Colorado setter Syd Cole was named as an honorable mention AVCA All-American on Wednesday.
Named the Big Sky MVP last month, Cole becomes the first UNC player and just the third conference member to earn the AVCA's NCAA DI accolade.
Honored for her 2015 season, Northern Arizona's Janae Vander Ploeg was the most recent Big Sky All-American while Idaho's Mindy Rice was the first recipient of the award for her 1994 campaign.
Guiding Northern Colorado to the Big Sky regular-season and the tournament championships, Cole led the conference with 11.04 assists per set. Her rate finished No. 17 in all of NCAA DI while her 1,325 total assists on the year was good for No. 12 in the country.
With Cole orchestrating the offense, UNC held the top makes in the conference in several statistical categories, including; kills (13.86), hitting percentage (.269), and assists per set (12.93).
Cole was one of 18 setters including the AVCA All-American lists and was one of only eight that were competing as a non-senior or graduate student.
"We are very proud of Syd to receive this award," UNC head coach Lyndsey Oates said. "She would be the first to admit that this is also a team award. As a setter, she needs a good first contact to distribute the ball and she needs all of her hitters to be able to put the ball away, but she is very deserving of this honor and we are excited for more of the same from her!"
Just a junior, Cole's 1,974 career assists rank No. 6 all-time on UNC's NCAA DI record book. Her 1,325 assists this season were the third highest single-season total in school history.
Named the Big Sky MVP last month, Cole becomes the first UNC player and just the third conference member to earn the AVCA's NCAA DI accolade.
Honored for her 2015 season, Northern Arizona's Janae Vander Ploeg was the most recent Big Sky All-American while Idaho's Mindy Rice was the first recipient of the award for her 1994 campaign.
Guiding Northern Colorado to the Big Sky regular-season and the tournament championships, Cole led the conference with 11.04 assists per set. Her rate finished No. 17 in all of NCAA DI while her 1,325 total assists on the year was good for No. 12 in the country.
With Cole orchestrating the offense, UNC held the top makes in the conference in several statistical categories, including; kills (13.86), hitting percentage (.269), and assists per set (12.93).
Cole was one of 18 setters including the AVCA All-American lists and was one of only eight that were competing as a non-senior or graduate student.
"We are very proud of Syd to receive this award," UNC head coach Lyndsey Oates said. "She would be the first to admit that this is also a team award. As a setter, she needs a good first contact to distribute the ball and she needs all of her hitters to be able to put the ball away, but she is very deserving of this honor and we are excited for more of the same from her!"
Just a junior, Cole's 1,974 career assists rank No. 6 all-time on UNC's NCAA DI record book. Her 1,325 assists this season were the third highest single-season total in school history.
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