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Bowling Green State University Athletics
Garda, Marciniak And Sunjic Pick Up All-Conference Honors
November 16, 2016 | Volleyball
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Three members of the Bowling Green State University volleyball team were awarded with All-Conference honors, the Mid-American Conference announced Wednesday (Nov. 16) morning. Senior libero Madeline Garda was named the Defensive Player of the Year. Isabelle Marciniak was named the Freshman of the Year, Setter of the Year, and named to the All-Freshman Team. Senior Jelena Sunjic, along with Garda, were named First Team All-MAC.
Garda, who has been named the MAC East Defensive Player of the Week five times this season, becomes BGSU's first-ever MAC Defensive Player of the Year selection. She also picked up First Team All-MAC honors for the first time in her career, and becomes the 20th player in program history to be named to the MAC's First Team. Garda is experiencing a historically successful senior season.
She leads the country in digs per set (6.55) and total digs (662). She sits third all-time in program history with 1,636 career digs, and needs just two more digs to break the single-season record. On Sept. 10, she shattered the program's single-match digs record with 40.
Marciniak becomes the program's first-ever Setter of the Year, and becomes the first BGSU player since 1996 to be named the MAC's Freshman of the Year. Furthermore, she becomes the first Falcon named to the All-Freshman Team since Sunjic picked up the honor in 2013. She is Bowling Green's seventh player named to the All-Freshman Team.
The Lambertville, Michigan native has registered 40-plus assists in five MAC matches, and has notched a total of 30 kills on the season. On Nov. 5, she posted a career-high 60 assists at Ohio, and recorded 49 assists the night before at Kent State.
Sunjic picked up First Team All-MAC honors for the second time in her career, as she was also named to the team in 2014. Sunjic has now earned an All-MAC honors across all four years of her Falcon career. On top of being named First Team All-MAC in 2014 and 2016, she was named to the All-Freshman Team in 2013, and was named Honorable Mention All-MAC in 2015.
A native of Metkovic, Croatia, Sunjic leads the MAC in kills per set (4.66). She also ranks fourth in the conference with a .341 hitting percentage. She has registered 20-plus kills in four of BGSU's last five matches, and is coming off an incredible weekend. In matches against Buffalo and Akron, she totaled 41 kills on 65 attempts, while committing a remarkable zero errors.
The Falcons will begin their quest for a MAC title this Friday (Nov. 18) at the MAC Tournament in DeKalb, Illinois. Bowling Green will play the winner of the Ball State and Western Michigan first-round matchup.
Below is a complete list of the conference honors.
2016 MAC Volleyball Player of the Year
Jenna Radtke, Northern Illinois, MB
2016 MAC Volleyball Setter of the Year
Isabelle Marciniak, Bowling Green, Setter
2016 MAC Volleyball Freshman of the Year
Isabelle Marciniak, Bowling Green, Setter
2016 MAC Defensive Player of the Year
Madeline Garda, Bowling Green, Libero
2016 MAC Volleyball All-MAC First Team (14 Members)
Brooklyn Goodsel, Ball State, RS
Jordan Bueter, Central Michigan, OH
Madeline Garda, Bowling Green, Libero
Jelena Sunjic, Bowling Green, Opposite
Cassie Shado, Buffalo, Middle Blocker
Kelsey Bittinger, Kent State, OH
Challen Geraghty, Kent State, L/DS
Paige Hill, Miami, Middle
Katie Tomasic, Miami, Opposite
Mary Grace Kelly, Northern Illinois, OH
Jenna Radtke, Northern Illinois, MB
Ali Lake, Ohio, MB
Mallory Salis, Ohio, OH/L
Sydney LeMay, Western Michigan, MB
2016 MAC Volleyball All-MAC Honorable Mention (6 Members)
Maeve McDonald, Miami, Libero
Maris Below, Miami, OH
Jamie Kosiorek, Ohio, OH
Meg Wolowicz, Northern Illinois, MB
Lauren Zielinski, Northern Illinois, OP
Maurissa Leonard, Toledo, Libero
2016 MAC Volleyball All-Freshman Team (6 Members)
Elya Karsner, Akron, Left Side Hitter
Kate Avila, Ball State, Libero
Sydnee VanBeek, Ball State, MH
Isabelle Marciniak, Bowling Green, Setter
Scout McLerran, Buffalo, Setter
Kathleen Reilly, Western Michigan, Libero
