Marina Markova selected as AVCA Division I All-American honorable mention
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Syracuse outside hitter Marina Markova earned American Volleyball Coaches Association honors once again, and she was named a Division I All-American honorable mention. Just last week, Markova and fellow outside hitter Polina Shemanova were named to the AVCA East All-Region Team. Today’s honor marks Markova’s second AVCA accolade, and she was one of 54 players who received an honorable mention.
This season, Markova set career-highs in kills and points with 33 and 34.5, respectively, in a five-set defeat to Florida State on Halloween weekend. The 33 kills is the third-highest single game kill total in program history. Two days prior against Miami, she notched a career-high 19 digs. Her performance that weekend earned her Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week honors, the second time she won the award this season.
She previously earned the conference honor after SU swept Yale, Quinnipiac and Hartford in September at the Yale Invitational fueled by Markova’s total 48 kills and .440 hitting percentage across all three matches, which led her to being named the tournament’s most valuable player. On opening weekend, Markova earned most valuable player honors at the Syracuse Invitational with sweeps of UConn, Albany and Buffalo.
Nationally, Markova’s 492 kills on the season puts her tied for 17th and second in the ACC. She led the conference in kills and points per set with 4.51 and 5.19, respectively. On Nov. 29, she was named to the All-ACC First Team, a day after the Orange found out they wouldn’t receive an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
Syracuse (17-13, 6-12 ACC) missed out on a NCAA Tournament appearance, which would’ve been its second in program history. SU finished the first half of its season 14-2, winning 11 of 12 nonconference games, before going 3-11 in the back half with three losing streaks of at least three games. Markova, a junior, will return next season to continue to ignite an SU attack which struggled in her absence last spring due to visa complications.