Cougars receive AVCA All-Region honors

PROVO, Utah – Three BYU women’s volleyball players and head coach Heather Olmstead received American Volleyball Coaches Association regional honors, the organization announced Tuesday.

Senior middle blocker Amy Boswell and freshman outside hitter McKenna Miller received AVCA All-Pacific South Region First Team honors while Whitney Young Howard received All-Pacific South Region Honorable Mention accolades.

Additionally, Miller was named the All-Pacific South Region Freshman of the Year and Olmstead was named the All-Pacific South Region Coach of the Year.

Boswell is second in the West Coast Conference in blocks per set, averaging 1.25. She is second on the team in kills per set with 3.00 while hitting at a team-best .380 clip. Additionally, Boswell was named to the All-WCC First Team and was named a WCC Player of the Week three times during the season.

Miller is second in the conference in kills, averaging 3.92 per set. She was named the WCC Freshman of the Year and added to the All-WCC First Team and Freshman Team.

Howard averages 1.21 blocks per set which places her in third in the league. She also collects 1.94 kills per set while hitting at a .357 clip. Howard was also named to the All-WCC First Team.

In her second season at the helm of the Cougars, Olmstead has amassed a 29-3 overall record and a third-straight outright WCC title while guiding her team to a fifth-straight regional semifinals appearance.

This is Boswell’s third-straight all-region honor and first for Miller. Howard was previously named an all-region honorable mention as a sophomore. This is Olmstead’s first all-region award as head coach.

The Cougars face No. 4 seed Texas in the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament Friday at 3 p.m. CST in Austin, Texas.