GREENWOOD----Lander University head volleyball coach Carla Decker and freshman Candace LaRocca were two of the key award-winners Friday night when the Peach Belt All-Conference team was announced at a banquet on the eve of the league tournament hosted by the Bearcats.
Decker, in her second season at Lander, was voted the PBC Coach of the Year, while LaRocca was selected the Freshman of the Year. Both are first-time honorees in those categories for Lander. Lander's Andrea Griffin and Kay Stewart were also named to the eight-member team.
Decker, who sports a 42-24 two-year, won-loss record at Lander, led the Bearcats to their best season ever with 22 victories and six Peach Belt wins. LaRocca, a setter from St. Joseph's Academy in St. Louis, Mo., had 1,235 assists, 266 digs and 53 service aces. She was third in the PBC in assists and fifth in service aces.
Griffin, a senior middle hitter from Simpsonville, S.C., led Lander in kills (371) and hitting percentage (.305) and also had a second-best 119 total blocks. In the PBC, she is second in hitting percentage, fourth in blocks and fifth in kills.
Stewart, a junior middle hitter, from St. Louis, Mo., led Lander with 162 blocks and was second for the Bearcats in kills with 365. She ranks first in blocks and seventh in kills in the PBC.
USC Aiken's Mandy Gerolstein was named the PBC Player of the Year. Other members of the All-PBC team are: Gwen Clarke, Armstrong Atlantic; Stephanie Durham, USC Aiken; Heather Fierce, UNC Pembroke; Jessica Howard, Augusta State; and Jessica Lombardi, Francis Marion.
