Phoebe Madsen Repeats as AVCA West Region Player of the Year; Tritschler, Moore, Walker Named All-Region

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior setter/hitter Phoebe Madsen earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association West Region Player of the Year for the second straight season, the organization announced this morning.

Madsen was joined on the AVCA All-West Region first team by three teammates, senior libero Sarah Tritschler, senior outside hitter Amanda Walker and junior middle hitter Melanie Moore. The four players will now be eligible for AVCA All-America honors, which will be announced later this month, as Madsen (first-team) and Walker (third-team) will try to win that distinction for the second year in a row. 

CMS heads into the NCAA Tournament with a 26-3 record on the season, winning the SCIAC regular season and postseason championships. The Athenas were 15-1 in the regular season in the SCIAC, falling only in a five-setter at Chapman on Oct. 1, but bounced back to sweep the Panthers in the next two meetings, including the SCIAC finals on Nov. 9 at Roberts Pavilion. 

Madsen has continued her ascension from her role as a sophomore, when she was a three-rotation player, sharing the setting duties with her older sister Clara Madsen in a 6-2 system. She has held down a multi-faceted role for CMS the last two seasons, setting while in the back row and moving to a right-side hitter spot in the front row. She ranks first on the team in assists with 642 and first in service aces with 50, while also ranking second in both kills (207) and digs (334). She now has 2568 assists in her career, which places fifth in program history, and has over 1000 digs as well (1152).

Tritschler has anchored the CMS defense from her libero spot with 555 digs this season, an average of 5.44 per set. Her dig total for her career now stands at 1526, third in program history despite seeing limited action in her first year. Her 612 digs last season ranks third on the single-season list, which she has a chance to pass if CMS makes a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. In addition to her role on defense, Tritschler has also contributed 181 assists as a secondary setter out of the back and has 29 service aces as well. 

Walker has had another big season with 322 kills (3.43 per set) while hitting .264 from the outside. A year ago, she stepped up big with 407 kills, third in program history, after seeing limited action her first two seasons, earning All-America honors. She is on a similar pace this year for kills with less attempts, raising her hitting percentage to .264 from .239 last year. She also has added 83 blocks this season, passing her previous high of 76 set last year. 

Moore was named the Most Valuable Player of the SCIAC Tournament after tallying 10 kills in 16 attempts against Chapman. She leads CMS in blocks per set at 1.15 with 102 in 89 sets, and is also hitting .294 on 1.94 kills per set. Through almost three full seasons, she has a career .324 hitting percentage, which would easily break the school record of .303 for a career, while her 285 career blocks already ranks fourth in CMS history as only a junior. 

CMS will open NCAA Tournament play on Friday at the University of Chicago, where its opening-round match is against WashU at 12:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. Pacific). A win in that contest would advance the Athenas through to the regional semifinals against the winner between No. 4 Carthage and Grinnell on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. time with the regional finals scheduled for Sunday.