Grafton named CCAC Player of the Year; one of four Bees named all-conference
Mackenzie Grafton was named the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Player of the Year as the conference announced its postseason awards.
She became the first SAU women's volleyball player to earn the honor and the program's first conference player of the year since Andrea Brooks earned the award from the Midwest Collegiate Conference in 2006.
Grafton, a second team all-CCAC selection last season, was joined on the all-CCAC first team by Meredith Siebers. Hannah Sondag and Meredith Umland were named to the second team. This marked the second straight year SAU has placed four on the two all-conference teams.
The four Bees helped the team win its first CCAC Tournament Saturday. St. Ambrose will make its second straight appearance in the NAIA National Tournament, the first time the program has accomplished that in back-to-back years since the 2009 and 2010 teams.
Grafton, a senior outside hitter from Orion, Ill., currently leads the conference with 480 kills, the fourth-best single-season mark in school history. She has collected double-digit kills in 27 of the team's 33 matches while hitting at a .221 clip. Grafton is also 10th in the CCAC with 314 digs. She has recorded 16 kill-dig double-doubles. Earlier this season, she became just the 13th player since 2002 to reach 1000 career kills.
Grafton was beaten to 1000 career kills by less than a month by Siebers, her teammate on the all-CCAC first team. Siebers, a senior opposite hitter from Quincy, Ill., also earned first team honors last season after being named to the all-CCAC second team in 2020. She currently ranks fourth in the conference in kills (332), 11th in total blocks (61) and 18th in digs (250).
Setting the hitters up was Sondag, who earned second-team recognition for the second consecutive year. The graduate student from Webster Groves, Mo., currently leads the conference with 1,191 assists. She is the only player in the league with more than 1000 this season. She is also 18th in blocks (51) and 19th in digs (246).
Joining Sondag on the second team was Umland. The junior middle hitter from Urbandale, Iowa, leads the conference with 111 total blocks, including a CCAC-best 31 solo blocks. Umland has also contributed offensively, registering 306 kills (eighth in the CCAC) on a .282 hitting percentage (third).