Wait & Martin Named AVCA All-Americans

OMAHA, Neb. -- Creighton Volleyball's Kendra Wait and Ava Martin have been recognized as All-Americans by the American Volleyball Coaches Association on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Wait was a Third Team All-American choice, while Martin was an Honorable Mention pick.

Creighton is the only BIG EAST Conference school to be represented in the 2023 honors.

This year marks the 12th straight season that Creighton has had at least one All-American, with multiple All-Americans in eight of the past nine campaigns.

Wait makes history as the first Creighton Volleyball player to earn AVCA All-America accolades as a freshman, sophomore and junior. She is the third Bluejay to become a three-time AVCA All-American, joining Kelli Browning (2012, 2013, 2014) and Jaali Winters (2015, 2016, 2018). The Gardner, Kan., native led the BIG EAST with 10.35 assists per set and ranked ninth in the league with a team-leading 396 digs. Named BIG EAST Player of the Year and BIG EAST Setter of the Year, Wait has been named a First Team All-BIG EAST selection following each of her three seasons as a Bluejay. Wait had been an Honorable Mention All-America selection by the AVCA in each of the previous two seasons.

A sophomore outside hitter from Overland Park, Kan., Martin led Creighton with 417 kills and was a unanimous All-BIG EAST selection. She ranked fourth in the conference in kills per set (3.59), fifth in points per set (3.95) and 11th in hitting percentage (.280). Martin was also the league's lone player to hit.275 or better with 400 or more kills. This is the first career AVCA All-America honor for Martin, who was named to four All-Tournament Teams this fall.

Creighton now owns 29 all-time AVCA All-America accolades in program history, which have been earned by 16 different women.

Creighton finished the its season in the Sweet 16 on Dec. 7 with a 29-5 overall record after making its 12th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Bluejays won their 10th straight BIG EAST regular-season title while also capturing their ninth league tournament title in the past 10 campaigns.

Each of the three AVCA All-America Teams is comprised of 14 athletes. The Division I AVCA National Player of the Year will be announced on Friday at the AVCA All-America/Players of the Year Banquet. The AVCA selected just 56 student-athletes as AVCA All-America Honorable Mention.

The selections were made by the AVCA Division I All-America Committee: Chair: Erin Lindsey (Santa Clara); East Region: Kimberly Lambert (Delaware); East Coast Region: Marci Byers (Virginia Tech); Midwest Region: Christy Johnson-Lynch (Iowa State); North Region: Katelyn Harrison (Belmont); Northeast Region: Caitlin Schwihofer (Rutgers); Pacific North Region: Matt Ulmer (Oregon); Pacific South Region: Branden Higa (Cal Baptist); South Region: Betsy Freeburg (UAB); South Region: Eve Rackham (Tennessee); Southwest Region: JT Wenger (UT Arlington).

CREIGHTON'S AVCA THIRD TEAM ALL-AMERICANS
Kelli Browning - 2014
Lydia Dimke - 2016
Norah Sis - 2021
Kendra Wait - 2023
Jaali Winters - 2015, '18
Brittany Witt - 2019

CREIGHTON'S AVCA HONORABLE MENTION ALL-AMERICANS
Megan Bober - 2010, '12
Kelli Browning - 2012, '13
Madelyn Cole - 2018, '19
Lydia Dimke - 2017
Kelly Goc - 2007
Jessica Houts - 2008
Taryn Kloth - 2016, '18
Ava Martin - 2023
Michelle Sicner - 2013
Norah Sis - 2022
Lauren Smith - 2015
Kendra Wait - 2021, 2022
Marysa Wilkinson - 2017
Jaali Winters - 2016
Brittany Witt - 2017
Jaela Zimmerman - 2020, 2021

2023 AVCA DIVISION I ALL-AMERICANS
First-Team All-Americans
First Name	Last Name	School	Pos.	Class
Olivia	Babcock	University of Pittsburgh	RS	Fr.
Merritt	Beason	University of Nebraska	RS	Jr.
Rachel	Fairbanks	University of Pittsburgh	S	Jr.
Skylar	Fields	University of Southern California	OH	Sr.
Morgahn	Fingall	University of Tennessee	RS	Gr.
Sarah	Franklin	University of Wisconsin	OH	Sr.
Magda	Jehlarova	Washington State University	MB	Sr.
Kendall	Kipp	Stanford University	RS	Sr.
Marta	Levinska	Arizona State University	RS	Sr.
Kami	Miner	Stanford University	S	Jr.
Asjia	O'Neal	University of Texas	MB	Sr.
Hannah	Pukis	University of Oregon	S	R-Sr.
Lexi	Rodriguez	University of Nebraska	DS/L	Jr.
Madisen	Skinner	University of Texas	OH	Jr.


Second-Team All-Americans
First Name	Last Name	School	Pos.	Class
Caitie	Baird	Stanford University	OH	R-Sr.
Anna	DeBeer	University of Louisville	OH	Sr.
Sophie	Fischer	University of Georgia	MB	Sr.
Jill	Gillen	University of Arkansas	OH	Gr.
Emma	Grome	University of Kentucky	S	Jr.
Eva	Hudson	Purdue University	OH	So.
Caroline	Kerr	University of Tennessee	S	R-Fr.
Kennedy	Martin	University of Florida	RS	Fr.
Kara	McGhee	University of Oregon	MB	Sr.
Jess	Mruzik	Penn State University	OH	Sr.
Bergen	Reilly	University of Nebraska	S	Fr.
Elia	Rubin	Stanford University	OH	So.
Elena	Scott	University of Louisville	L	Jr.
Anna	Smrek	University of Wisconsin	RS	Jr

Third-Team All-Americans
First Name	Last Name	School	Pos.	Class
Carter	Booth	University of Wisconsin	MB	So.
Paige	Briggs	Western Kentucky University	OH	Gr.
Chloe	Chicoine	Purdue University	OH	Fr.
Reagan	Cooper	University of Kansas	OH	Gr.
Cara	Cresse	University of Louisville	MB	R-So.
Taylor	Head	University of Arkansas	OH	Sr.
Amber	Igiede	University of Hawai'i	MB	Sr.
Morgan	Lewis	University of Oregon	RS	Sr.
Harper	Murray	University of Nebraska	OH	Fr.
Melanie	Parra	Texas Christian University	OH	Jr.
Reagan	Rutherford	University of Kentucky	RS	Sr.
Kenna	Sauer	University of Houston	OH	Gr.
Torrey	Stafford	University of Pittsburgh	OH	Fr.
Kendra	Wait	Creighton University	S	Jr.

Honorable Mention
First Name	Last Name	School	Pos.	Class
Lexie	Almodovar	University of Dayton	OH	R-Jr.
Paige	Bartsch	Boise State University	RS	Jr.
Bianca	Bertolino	Georgia Tech	OH	Jr.
Whitney	Bower	Brigham Young University	S	Sr.
Ielan	Bradley	Stephen F. Austin State University	RS	Sr.
Giulia	Cardona	University of Evansville	RS	Jr.
Aliyah	Carter	Kansas State University	OH	Sr.
Logan	Case	Western Michigan University	S	Sr.
Kayley	Cassaday	University of Tulsa	OH	Gr.
Grace	Chillingworth	Pepperdine University	OH	Jr.
Emma	Clothier	Southern Methodist University	MB	Gr.
Raven	Colvin	Purdue University	MB	Jr.
Mimi	Colyer	University of Oregon	OH	So.
Sophie	Davis	James Madison University	MB	Gr.
Brooklyn	DeLeye	University of Kentucky	OH	Fr.
Carly	Diehl	Yale University	S	Jr.
Anna	Dodson	UCLA	MB	R-Sr.
Tatijana	Fucka	Fairleigh Dickinson University	MB	Gr.
Kate	Georgiades	University of Houston	L	Sr.
Gabby	Gonzales	University of Oregon	OH	Sr.
Nayeli	Gonzalez	Iowa State University	OH	Fr.
Madison	Harms	University of South Dakota	MB	Sr.
Camryn	Haworth	Indiana University	S	Jr.
Hannah	Hogue	University of Arkansas	S	Jr.
Tsvetelina	Ilieva	Binghamton University	OH	Sr.
Claire	Jeter	Arizona State University	MB	Sr.
Emmy	Klika	University of Pittsburgh	L	Jr.
Audrey	Koenig	Florida State University	OH	Jr.
Giovana	Larregui Lopez	Eastern Illinois University	OH	Sr.
Erin	Livingston	Brigham Young University	OH	Sr.
Grace	Lopez	University of Miami Florida	OH	Fr.
Khori	Louis	Florida State University	MB	Jr.
Dylan	Maberry	High Point University	OH	Sr.
Ava	Martin	Creighton University	OH	So.
Callie	Martin	Wright State University	RS	Gr.
Isabel	Martin	UNLV	OH	R-Sr.
Rya	McKinnon	Howard University	OH	So.
Meg	Mersman	Lipscomb University	MB	Sr.
Emma	Monks	University of Pittsburgh	MB	Gr.
Jenaisya	Moore	University of Tennessee	OH	Gr.
Georgia	Murphy	University of Oregon	L	Sr.
Elena	Oglivie	Stanford University	L	Sr.
Michelle	Ohwobete	UC Santa Barbara	OH	Sr.
Tatum	Parrott	Grand Canyon University	OH	So.
Kyndal	Payne	Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi	OH	Jr.
Jada	Rhodes	Alabama State University	OH	Sr.
Jasmine	Rivest	Coastal Carolina University	OH	R-Sr.
Devyn	Robinson	University of Wisconsin	RS	Sr.
Ali	Ruffin	The Citadel	OH	Jr.
Shannon	Shields	Arizona State University	S	Gr.
Bridgette	Smith	California State University, Sacramento	OH	Sr.
Yelianiz	Torres	University of Tennessee	L	Gr.
Camryn	Turner	University of Kansas	S	Jr.
Argentina	Ung	Washington State University	S	Sr.
Zeynep	Uzen	American University	OH	Gr.
Sasha	van der Merwe	Marist College	OH	Sr.

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Players Mentioned

Madelyn Cole

Ava Martin

Norah Sis

Kendra Wait

Kendra Wait

Brittany Witt

Jaela Zimmerman

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