By Nicholas Huenefeld/OCCAC Sports Information

Springfield, Ohio---Brooke Gyori, a sophomore defensive specialist for the Owens Community College women's volleyball team, was named the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference (OCCAC) Player of the Year this afternoon as the conference released the 2016 All-OCCAC team and postseason awards.

POSTSEASON AWARDS

Gyori 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 is a reigning NJCAA Honorable Mention All-American.

In 39 matches, Gyori 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, Cuyahoga Community College head coach Mary Colovas was named the 2016 OCCAC Coach of the Year. She continued to improve the Challengers record as the team went 5-9 overall and finished in fourth place - one year after going 2-12 and finishing in seventh place and two years after going 1-13 and finishing in last place. In fact, they won more conference matches this year than they did the previous three years combined, and earned the program's first postseason bid in over 10 years.

FIRST TEAM ALL-OCCAC

In addition to Gyori, Owens also placed three others on the first team including Christine Tylutki, Tyanna Smith and Erika Angstmann. Sinclair Community College's Meg Reineke and Caroline Smith, along with Columbus State's Hannah Wallace and Allyse Rutter also made it, while Cuyahoga's Payton Ciolek, Lorain County's Maryssa Kellick, Edison's Erin Metz and Lakeland's Kayla Zarbock rounded out the first team.

Reineke finished second in player of the year voting, while Tylutki finished third.

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-OCCAC

Earning honorable mention recognition were Columbus State's Morgan Danec, Cuyahoga's Rachel Geis, Edison's Brianna Wells, Lakeland's Cary Morin, Lorain County's Ali Stanziano, Niki Polce of Owens and Lauren Roetgerman of Sinclair. 

WRAP UP

Congratulations to all of the student-athletes who earned all-conference honors this year, and good luck to the four teams participating in this weekend's Region XII District F tournament at Owens Community College - Owens, Sinclair, Cuyahoga and Edison.