Polina Shemanova earns AVCA East All-Region Team honors

Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our sports newsletter here.

Outside hitter Polina Shemanova was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association East All-Region team for the fourth time in her career. During her freshman season, Shemanova finished her career as one of the most decorated players in Syracuse history, breaking the program’s all-time kills record. 

On Oct. 9 against Louisville, Shemanova recorded her 1,699th kill in her career, passing Diana Fume who held the record for over 20 years. This season, Shemanova had four games of 20 or more kills, including a season-high 28-kill performance against Wake Forest.

Shemanova finished sixth in the ACC with 402 kills this season, averaging 3.9 kills per set. In four of her five seasons with SU, she recorded more than 400 kills. She set the freshman kill record with 447 in 2018 before recording 485 in 2019, the fourth-most in a single season in Syracuse history. She also set the SU record for most kills per set with 5.16. For her career, Shemanova totaled 1,845 kills. 

Shemanova finished second on the team with 32 service aces, tallying a career-high six against Virginia on Nov. 6. Shemanova’s top spin serves became an integral part of Syracuse’s attack down the stretch, tossing the ball high up in the air before firing the ball as hard as she could to the other side.

Shemanova provided a steady presence on the outside for first-year head coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam. On the court, Shemanova’s presence was always felt with her powerful strikes of the ball. In most games, an opposing team’s defense focused on her, often seeing two players in front of her on the block.