By Nicholas Huenefeld/Owens Sports Information
Toledo, Ohio---Brooke Gyori (Clay/Oregon, Ohio), a sophomore defensive specialist for the No. 2 Owens Community College women's volleyball team, has been named the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) Player of the Year, while four other student-athletes also made the All-OCCAC team.
Gyori, who became the first non-offensive player to win the conference's top honor since 2009, has led Owens to its second straight 14-0 conference season, a 35-4 overall record and a No. 2 national ranking. In OCCAC play, she compiled 206 digs, 25 assists, 20 aces and eight digs. Overall, she only had eight matches in which she didn't reach at least 10 digs, and she had nine in six of those. On top of that, she earned NJCAA Honorable Mention All-American as a freshman.
In 39 matches, Gyori has produced 589 digs, 71 assists, 55 aces and 15 kills in a schedule that featured wins over No. 5 Catawba Valley, No. 8 Kirkwood, No. 10 Sauk Valley, No. 11 McHenry County, No. 14 Schoolcraft, No. 15 Grand Rapids, No. 16 Des Moines Area and No. 19 Muskegon. They also defeated NJCAA Division I Monroe College No. 18 twice.
In addition to Gyori, three other student-athletes from the Owens volleyball team made the All-OCCAC first team. Those players include Erika Angstmann (St. Mary's Memorial/St. Mary's, Ohio), a freshman outside hitter, Tyanna Smith (Bowling Green/Bowling Green, Ohio), a sophomore middle blocker, and Christine Tylutki (Monroe/Monroe, Mich.), a sophomore setter/right side hitter.
In fact, Tylutki finished third in OCCAC player of the year voting behind Gyori and Sinclair's Meg Reineke after producing 67 kills, 239 assists, 19 aces, 100 digs and 32 blocks in conference play alone. Angstmann tallied 119 kills at a .419 clip, four assists, 28 aces, 85 digs and 28 blocks in conference play, while Smith had 109 kills at a .457 clip, three assists, eight aces, 23 digs and 56 blocks.
Niki Polce (Huron/New Boston, Mich.), a freshman defensive specialist, also earned a spot on the conference's honorable mention team. She produced 107 digs, one kill, seven assists and 10 aces in conference play.
Owens will take its 35-4 record into the Region XII District F tournament, which begins with a 6 p.m. matchup against Cuyahoga Community College this evening in the Student Health and Activities Center (SHAC) at Owens. With a win, Owens would advance to tomorrow's winner's bracket final at 11 a.m. The championship of the double-elimination, four-team tournament will take place at 3 p.m. with the if necessary match taking place at 5 p.m. The winner of the tournament, which Owens is the defending champion of, will advance to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II National Tournament in Charleston, W.V.