BATON ROUGE-- McNeese State's Malina Sanchez, a first team All-Southland Conference selection who led the Cowgirls to the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament, has been named Louisiana Sports Writer's Association volleyball player of the year as released by the organization late Saturday night. The player of the year honor is the fourth for McNeese and first since the honor went to Nicole James in 2004. 

Comprised of the volleyball playing institutions of the state of Louisiana, a panel of voters selected a first and second team list of players within the state with seven players selected for each team, along with a handful of individual awards for the state's top player, freshman, newcomer, libero and coach.

The native of Lake Jackson, Texas, Sanchez, who led McNeese in kills, was also a first team selection along fellow teammate Kelly Graham, with Tea Juric of Tulane, Landry Bullock of Southeastern Louisiana, Glynna Johnson of Northwestern State and Dunn from New Orleans, as Williams was the first-team libero.

Sanchez led the team in kills with 407, averaging 3.18 kills per set, while finishing second on the team in digs with 335. She was second in kills in conference matches and finished the season with 17 double-doubles. She recorded double figure kills in 14 matches. Sanchez was named to the Wyoming Invite All-Tournament Team and first team Southland Conference All-Academic selection was second in kills in conference matches in the Southland, finishing the season with 17 double-doubles and had 14 matches with double figure kills.
Sanchez ended her McNeese career ranked third in attempts (3,817), fifth in kills (1,280), sixth in digs (1,283), and tied for eighth in service aces with 119.

Graham, the Cowgirls' senior setter from Longmont, Colorado, became the first McNeese player to record a triple-double with 10 kills, 47 assists and 11 digs against Tennessee-Martin early this season. The All-SLC second team selection and first team all-Academic pick, led McNeese in assists (1,209) and ranked fifth in the SLC in conference matches only with 659, tied on the team with 23 service aces, and was third on the team with 296 digs. Graham ended her playing career ranked fifth in McNeese career assists with 3,318.

Cowgirl junior Bridget Justis was joined on the second team by Nicholls' Kaci Eaton, LSU's Gina Tillis, Tulane's Sara Ray, ULM's Taylor Zaeske and Hope Pawlik and New Orleans' Celeste Ramirez.

The native of Ozark, Missouri, led McNeese in digs and service ace with 26. She ranked fourth in the SLC with 578 digs for an average of 4.48 per set. She recorded 10 or more digs in 30 matches and 20 or more in 14 matches. Justis was named to the Ole Miss Tri-Match All-Tournament team.

2015 LSWA All-Louisiana Volleyball
First Team
Malina Sanchez, McNeese/OH/Sr./Lake Jackson, Texas/All-SLC First Team, 407 kills
Tea Juric, Tulane/OH/Jr./Kastel Stari, Croatia/Team high 19 double doubles, 404 kills
Kelly Graham, McNeese State/S/Sr./Longmont, Colo./All-SLC Second Team, 16 double doubles
Landry Bullock, Southeastern/MB-OH/Jr./Spring, Texas/All-SLC, Led SLU in kills & attempts
Glynna Johnson, Northwestern State/MB/Sr./Gatesville, Texas/School record for hitting pct. (.377)
Blessing Dunn, New Orleans/OH/Fr./Jacksonville, Ala./304 kills, SLC HM
Diamond Williams, Southern/Libero/Jr./Fort Worth, Texas/SWAC Libero of Year, 515 digs
  
Second Team
Kaci Eaton, Nicholls/OH/Jr./Austin, Texas/229 kills, led SLC attacks ps (11.34)
Gina Tillis, LSU/OH/So./Rockwall, Texas/295 Kills, .173 hitting percentage
Sarah Ray, Tulane/RSH/So./Nashville, Tenn./351 Kills, .164 hitting percentage
Taylor Zaeske, ULM/OH/Jr./Milwaukee, Wisc./284 kills, .151 hitting percentage
Hope Pawlik, ULM/O-RSH/Jr./Willis, Texas/295 kills, .175 hitting percentage
Celeste Ramirez, New Orleans/S/Sr./San Antonio, Texas/1,046 assists, 39 aces
Bridget Justis, McNeese State/L/Jr./Ozark, Mo./578 digs, 26 aces
 
Honorable Mention
Claudia Haywood, Xavier (MB, Sr., Memphis, Tenn.); Amanda Kunz, Northwestern State (MB, Sr., Plano, Texas); Madi Odom, Southeastern (OH, Jr., Kingwood, Texas); Marta Monne, Louisiana Tech (OH, So., Varese, Italy); Eva Allen, Loyola (OH, Sr., Oakland, Calif.); Keke Irby, UNO (MH, Jr., Liberty Township, Ohio); Franziska Pirkl, Xavier (S, Sr., Munich, Germany)

Player of the Year
Malina Sanchez, McNeese State
Newcomer of the Year
Keke Irby, New Orleans
Freshman of the Year
Blessing Dunn, New Orleans
Libero of the Year
Diamond Williams, Southern 
Coach of the Year
Millicent Van Norden, New Orleans