NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State volleyball team put a wrap on the 2017 season, as four Redbirds were recognized with individual awards as voted on by the team, at an end-of-the-season team dinner held Sunday.
Jaelyn Keene, Stef Jankiewicz, Lexi Varga and Elianna Lovejoy were among the student-athletes honored at Sunday's team dinner.
Keene, a senior middle hitter from Jacksonville, Illinois, was named the Linda Herman Most Valuable Player for the second-consecutive year after earning All-Missouri Valley Conference First-Team honors for the fourth year in a row. Keene led Illinois State in kills (503), attacks (1,156), hitting percentage (.326), aces (43) and blocks (131) during the 2017 season. She finished her career ranked in the top 10 in school history in kills (1,567), aces (140) and blocks (472), and set a new ISU career hitting percentage record (.367).
Jankiewicz, a freshman setter from Farmington Hills, Michigan, was named Most Improved Player. Jankiewicz became Illinois State's seventh MVC Freshman/Newcomer of the Year, was named a member of the six-player MVC All-Freshman Team, and was selected to the All-MVC Second Team. She led her team and ranked second in the Valley in both total assists (1,449) and assists per set (11.06). She ranked second on her team in aces (32) and aces per set (0.24), and third in digs (351) and digs per set (2.68).
Varga, a junior from Rockford, Illinois, won the Kelly Meisner Courage Award. Varga ranked sixth on the team in blocks (20) and set a career high with 22 digs in a five-set win versus Cincinnati on Sept. 9.
Lovejoy earned the Kristin Kueltzo Inspiration Award, marking the third time in her career she has claimed the honor (she also won it in 2014 and 2016). A senior from Bettendorf, Iowa, Lovejoy saw action in 17 sets for the Redbirds and had a season-best five digs in a win at Bradley on Nov. 11.
The Illinois State volleyball team concluded its season on Dec. 1 in the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The Redbirds, led by first-year head coach Leah Johnson, ended the 2017 season with a 22-13 overall record, with the 22 wins matching the program's second-highest total since the turn of the century.
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