Anteaters receive honors

UC Irvine sophomore Lauren Kellerman earned first-team All-Big West Conference honors in women’s volleyball, while junior Kristin Kelley, freshman McCall Miller and freshman Taryn Robertson also received all-conference recognition.

Kelley was honorable mention. Mille rand Robertson were named to the All-Freshman team.

Kellerman, a 6-foot outside hitter who was named to the All-Freshman team last season, is second in the Big West with a 4.13 kill-per-game average. Kellerman was named Big West Player of the Week and earned national honors from Collegiate Volleyball Update after leading UC Irvine to a pair of road upsets at UC Santa Barbara and No. 19 Cal Poly.

She leads the team with 454 kills and is tied for first with 31 service aces. Kellerman is also third on the team with 252 digs and has put together 13 double-double performances this season.

Kelley received an all-conference nod in her first season as a middle blocker for UC Irvine. She leads the team with 124 blocks and a 1.15 per game average.

The 6-2 junior became just the fifth Anteater to reach 100 or more block assists in a season and has accumulated 106. She is ninth in the Big West in blocks per game and third on the team with 24 service aces and 258 kills.

Miller is second on the team with 330 kills and 304 digs. She recorded 13 double-doubles this season and averaged 3.00 kills per game while recording a 2.76 dig average. She posted a second-best 304 digs for the Anteaters and was fourth on the team with 17 service aces.

The inclusion of Miller and Robertson to the All-Freshman team gives UC Irvine two such honorees for the first time since 1994 when Meredith Fletcher (1994-95) and Amy Pimental (1994-96) were recognized by the conference.

Robertson became UCI’s first setter to earn All-Freshman honors during Coach Charlie Brande’s tenure of seven seasons.

She is fifth in the conference with a 9.99 assist-per-game average and third on the team with 75 total blocks. Robertson put together seven double-doubles (assists/digs) this season and just missed a triple-double against Georgetown, recording 39 assists, nine digs and nine blocks.

UC Irvine (12-16), which finished tied for fourth in the Big West at 7-7 wraps up the season Saturday at 5 p.m. with a non-conference match against Virginia Commonwealth at The Pyramid in Long Beach.

This is the third time in four years that four UCI women’s volleyball players have been named all-conference in a single season.