Marina Markova named ECAC Offensive Player of the Year

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Syracuse outside hitter Marina Markova was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year on Monday and was also named to the ECAC Division I All-ECAC Team. This marks the Russia native’s fourth and fifth postseason honors this season, respectively.

Markova was previously named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference First Team and the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s East All-Region Team. Last week, she was named a 2021 AVCA All-American honorable mention.

A member of the 2021 All-ACC Preseason Team, Markova notched a team-high 492 kills on nearly 1,200 total attack attempts, recording a .309 hitting percentage. The total kills were tied for 17th nationally and second in the ACC. She also led the conference with an average of 4.51 kills per set while her Russian counterpart, Polina Shemanova, was fourth in the ACC in both total kills and average kills per set.

Markova notched a career-high 33 kills against Florida State, the third-highest single-game total in program history. That performance led to Markova earning her second ACC Player of the Week honors. The first recognition came after her performance at the Yale Invitational, where she recorded 48 kills and an .44 average hitting percentage across sweeps of Quinnipiac, Yale and Hartford.

In August, Markova was also named the Syracuse Invitational’s most valuable player with 42 total kills in SU’s victories over UConn, Buffalo and Albany.