Telegraph Staff Writer
Union County High School senior volleyball players Maegan Beatty and Sabrena Howard were successfully nominated for the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s inaugural Best and Brightest Awards.
Beatty, a 5-4 setter, is a member of the 471-member first team, while Howard, a 5-10 right side, is on the 376-member second team.
The Best and Brightest Awards honor seniors who had a GPA of at least 3.0 (unweighted)/3.5 (weighted) during their junior years and who have played in 50 percent of their varsity teams’ sets their senior years.
A total of 962 players throughout the U.S. were named to Best and Brightest teams. The first team recognized players with junior-year GPAs of at least 3.7/4.2, while second-team members had GPAs of at least 3.3/3.8. Third-team members had GPAs of 3.0/3.5.
Beatty and Howard were two of 62 players at Florida schools receiving Best and Brightest Awards. The first and second teams consisted of 44 and 12 Florida players, respectively, while the third team consisted of six Florida players.
Through 22 matches (not including this past Tuesday’s Region 4-1A semifinal match), Union’s gotten a team-high 667 assists from Beatty, who’s also second on the team in service aces with 43. She’s fourth in digs with 146.
Howard has the second-most kills for the Tigers with 257. She’s third on the team in digs (304), aces (38) and blocks (17).
