Santita Ebangwese, Polina Shemanova earn All-American honorable mentions

After making its first NCAA tournament in program history, Syracuse (19-9, 14-4 Atlantic Coast) and its players continue to receive high forms of recognition. Santita Ebangwese and Polina Shemanova were named as honorable mention All-Americans by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), announced on Wednesday.

Ebangwese and Shemanova are only the second and third players in program history to receive such honors. Kelly Duan is the only other, achieving the same recognition in both 2004 and 2005.

Ebangwese currently tops the nation with a .425 hitting percentage. On her career, she’s hit .351, a Syracuse record. This season, she’s hit above .300 in 24 matches. Ebangwese also ranks in the top-10 nationally in total blocks, block assists, solo blocks and blocks per set for the Orange. The senior was also named to the AVCA All-Region team and the All-ACC first team, both for the second time in her career.

“Every time she goes up, she’s going for a kill,” senior Amber Witherspoon said of Ebangwese earlier in the season. “No matter how fast, slow, high, low, Santita is going up to hit.”

In just her first year of action, Shemanova was also named to the All-ACC first team. She was also named AVCA East Region Freshman of the Year and ACC Freshman of the Year. Shemanova set a school freshman-record 447 total kills, a mark good for eighth among Orange players all-time.

In addition to racking up double-digit kills in 26 of 28 matches, Shemanova racked up 30 kills against Florida State, setting a SU freshman kills record. The freshman is just the third Syracuse player all-time to record 30 kills in a game. She also led the team in digs.

“She’s very consistent in what she does,” Ebangwese said of Shemanova late in the season. “When she hits, she hits. She gets digs. I definitely know offensively, she makes smart plays and that’s what allows her to get so many kills. On defense, she’s disciplined so that’s why she gets digs.”

The duo helped the Orange qualify for their first ever NCAA tournament this season. Behind a team-high 12 kills from Shemanova and 10 from Ebangwese, SU earned the program’s first ever tournament win, 3-0 over Yale on Nov. 30. The Orange ultimately lost in to Penn State in the second round on Dec 1.