Three TCU volleyball players earned All-Big 12 honors Monday and were honored by the Big 12 for their outstanding play this season.
First-year outside hitter élan McCall was unanimously selected to the All-Big 12 First Team and the All-Big 12 Rookie Team. Senior middle blocker Anna Walsh joined McCall on the first team, and sophomore setter Tori Dilfer was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team.
“All of our players understand that no one is presented these awards on their own merit,” said head coach Jill Kramer. “These awards are representative of our team’s daily effort that they all put forth together.”
The awards for McCall come at no surprise, as she put together one of the best first-year seasons in program history. She won six weekly Big 12 honors this season and was the first Horned Frog to ever be named to the Sports Import/AVCA Player of the Week and VolleyMob Player of the Week.
She is also the only first-year in program history to win double honors in a single season.
The Leander, Texas, native finished the season top ten in the league in kills per set and digs per set. McCall also led the Horned Frogs in total kills, despite missing six matches with an injury.
“She came up big for our team day-in and day-out as a six-rotation outside hitter leading our team in kills per set, digs per set, and was solid as a primary passer,” Kramer said.
Walsh earned All-Big 12 honors for the second-straight year. She is the third TCU player ever to win conference postseason awards in back-to-back seasons — she was the All-Big 12 Second Team in 2017.
Second to only McCall on the team in total kills, the senior middle blocker played in every set of every match this season. After being named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team, Walsh recorded double-digit kills in 20 matches and finished her career with 1,152 kills, making her the 11th player in TCU history to reach 1,000 kills.
“Anna carried a huge load for us offensively as a middle blocker,” Kramer said. “She has one of the best arm swings I’ve seen out of the middle in a long time and found a way to score when teams knew she was getting the ball.”
With Dilfer’s award, the sophomore becomes the first setter to win a Big 12 postseason honor in the history of TCU volleyball.
While leading the conference in service aces, she recorded 10 double-doubles on the season for TCU. Her 1,134 assists on the season were good for 11.12 assists per set, which was the second-highest total in the conference. Dilfer was also named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team.
“Since we had some key players in and out of the line-up, our offensive game plans needed to change often this year,” said Kramer. “Tori managed those changes well and continued to get in the gym and improve her tempo and location, so that no matter who she was setting, she was giving them a hittable ball.”
The Horned Frogs finished sixth in the Big 12 with a 7-9 conference record.
