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The University of Utah Athletics
Launiere Named Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Five Other Utes Honored by Pac-12
12/3/2019 11:02 AM | Volleyball
This is Launiere's First Pac-12 Coach of the Year Award
SALT LAKE CITY – After having their highest finish in program history in the Pac-12, Utah volleyball head coach Beth Launiere earner her first Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor along with five Utes being named Pac-12 All-Conference.
In her 30th season at Utah, Launiere guided the Utes to their 18th 20-win season and to their 16th NCAA Tournament. The team finished conference play with a 14-6 record and finished in third place. The 14 wins and third place finish are the highest since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.
"I'm humbled to receive this award in a conference with so many great coaches," Launiere said. "The team's success in the Pac-12 is attributed to a staff that worked relentlessly and a strong group of players who were driven and committed on a daily basis. It's been a special season with special people by my side."
With her Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor this season, it gives her four coach of the year selections in her career after winning the award in the Mountain West three times.
Along with Launiere being named Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Utah was rewarded for their great season with five being named Pac-12 All-Conference.
"We are proud to have two first-team all-conference players, Dani Drews and Kenzie Koerber honored," Launiere said. "This is one of the many firsts for our program this season. Berkeley Oblad and Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres being recognized is a tribute to them and shows the depth of talent both on our team and in the conference. Zoe Weatherington has made an impact on our team this year, and we are so happy she has been recognized as one of the top freshman in the conference."
Dani Drews and Kenzie Koerber each earned All-Pac-12 honors and Zoe Weatherington was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. Berkeley Oblad and Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres were named Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention.
After a great 2018 season, Drews continued to be tremendous this season totaling 581 kills and is sitting just 11 kills away from matching a single-season record. In conference play, Drews was third overall averaging 4.76 kills per set. She had 14 matches with over 20 kills and two matches with over 30. Against USC, she set a rally-scoring program record with 33 kills while also hitting .348 in the match. Drews also leads the team in aces with 33.
Never coming off the floor, Drews had 262 digs and 65.0 blocks. This is the second season in a row that she's been named to the All-Pac-12 team.
Koerber earns her first All-Pac-12 team honor after finishing second on the team in kills with 364 hitting .276. She's also second on the team with 30 service aces. Koerber was honored twice this season with Pac-12 Weekly awards winning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. The junior right side started the season strong by being named the Utah Volleyball Classic MVP after helping Utah go 3-0 in the opening weekend beating two ranked teams. Along with her strong offensive numbers, Koerber has been great on defense as well being third on the team with 100 blocks and second on the team with 290 digs.
Freshman Zoe Weatherington finished the season with 268 kills averaging 2.44 per set. In the second weekend of the season, she had 16 kills hitting .636 against Portland State and got better from there. She had 15 matches with double-figure kills including some of the biggest matches of the season against highly ranked Pittsburgh, BYU, Stanford and Washington. The heavy-armed freshman from Mint Hill, North Carolina was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week once this season.
Redshirt senior Berkeley Oblad earned her third Pac-12 post-season honor by being named All-Pac-12 honorable mention. Back for her redshirt senior season, she made it count totaling a career high with 308 kills while also being a force at the net finishing with 142.0 blocks. Oblad became the fourth player in Utah program history to have 1,000 career kills and 500 career blocks.
In her first season starting, Ka'aha'aina-Torres had some of the best numbers in the Pac-12 finishing with 1,380 assists through the regular season averaging 11.40 assists per set. That mark is the 17th best mark in the NCAA. She had nine matches with at least 50 assists and two matches with 67 assists. That's the most assists a Utah setter has had since 2010 and Ka'aha'aina-Torres did it twice. Utah finished third in the Pac-12 in hitting percentage in conference play and hit over .300 seven times this season. This is her first Pac-12 award.
The Utes will be playing Illinois in the Provo Regional in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this Friday, November 6 at 4 p.m. MT.
For more updates on Utah, follow @UtahVolleyball on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
In her 30th season at Utah, Launiere guided the Utes to their 18th 20-win season and to their 16th NCAA Tournament. The team finished conference play with a 14-6 record and finished in third place. The 14 wins and third place finish are the highest since joining the Pac-12 in 2011.
"I'm humbled to receive this award in a conference with so many great coaches," Launiere said. "The team's success in the Pac-12 is attributed to a staff that worked relentlessly and a strong group of players who were driven and committed on a daily basis. It's been a special season with special people by my side."
With her Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor this season, it gives her four coach of the year selections in her career after winning the award in the Mountain West three times.
Along with Launiere being named Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Utah was rewarded for their great season with five being named Pac-12 All-Conference.
"We are proud to have two first-team all-conference players, Dani Drews and Kenzie Koerber honored," Launiere said. "This is one of the many firsts for our program this season. Berkeley Oblad and Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres being recognized is a tribute to them and shows the depth of talent both on our team and in the conference. Zoe Weatherington has made an impact on our team this year, and we are so happy she has been recognized as one of the top freshman in the conference."
Dani Drews and Kenzie Koerber each earned All-Pac-12 honors and Zoe Weatherington was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. Berkeley Oblad and Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres were named Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention.
After a great 2018 season, Drews continued to be tremendous this season totaling 581 kills and is sitting just 11 kills away from matching a single-season record. In conference play, Drews was third overall averaging 4.76 kills per set. She had 14 matches with over 20 kills and two matches with over 30. Against USC, she set a rally-scoring program record with 33 kills while also hitting .348 in the match. Drews also leads the team in aces with 33.
Never coming off the floor, Drews had 262 digs and 65.0 blocks. This is the second season in a row that she's been named to the All-Pac-12 team.
Koerber earns her first All-Pac-12 team honor after finishing second on the team in kills with 364 hitting .276. She's also second on the team with 30 service aces. Koerber was honored twice this season with Pac-12 Weekly awards winning Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. The junior right side started the season strong by being named the Utah Volleyball Classic MVP after helping Utah go 3-0 in the opening weekend beating two ranked teams. Along with her strong offensive numbers, Koerber has been great on defense as well being third on the team with 100 blocks and second on the team with 290 digs.
Freshman Zoe Weatherington finished the season with 268 kills averaging 2.44 per set. In the second weekend of the season, she had 16 kills hitting .636 against Portland State and got better from there. She had 15 matches with double-figure kills including some of the biggest matches of the season against highly ranked Pittsburgh, BYU, Stanford and Washington. The heavy-armed freshman from Mint Hill, North Carolina was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week once this season.
Redshirt senior Berkeley Oblad earned her third Pac-12 post-season honor by being named All-Pac-12 honorable mention. Back for her redshirt senior season, she made it count totaling a career high with 308 kills while also being a force at the net finishing with 142.0 blocks. Oblad became the fourth player in Utah program history to have 1,000 career kills and 500 career blocks.
In her first season starting, Ka'aha'aina-Torres had some of the best numbers in the Pac-12 finishing with 1,380 assists through the regular season averaging 11.40 assists per set. That mark is the 17th best mark in the NCAA. She had nine matches with at least 50 assists and two matches with 67 assists. That's the most assists a Utah setter has had since 2010 and Ka'aha'aina-Torres did it twice. Utah finished third in the Pac-12 in hitting percentage in conference play and hit over .300 seven times this season. This is her first Pac-12 award.
The Utes will be playing Illinois in the Provo Regional in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this Friday, November 6 at 4 p.m. MT.
For more updates on Utah, follow @UtahVolleyball on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Players Mentioned
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