Phoebe Madsen Earns Spot on AVCA All-America First-Team; Amanda Walker on Third Team
CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior setter/hitter Phoebe Madsen became the second player in Claremont-Mudd-Scripps volleyball history to earn first-team All-America honors (joining Margaux Arntson from last year) from the American Volleyball Coaches Association, while junior outside hitter Amanda Walker was named a third-team All-American, the AVCA announced today.
Madsen and Walker become the fourth and fifth All-Americans in program history, joining Arntson and Mikena Werner (second team) from last season and Nicole Kerkhof (third team) in 2015. In addition, junior libero Sarah Tritschler and sophomore middle hitter Melanie Moore were both named honorable mention AVCA All-Americans, giving CMS four honorees total, eclipsing last year's total of three when Clara Madsen, Phoebe's older sister, earned honorable mention honors.
Phoebe Madsen did a little bit of everything for the Athenas this season to earn a spot on the All-America first team, on the heels of winning the AVCA West Region Player of the Year honor. After splitting the setting duties last year in a 6-2 system with her sister, Madsen served as the team's primary setter this year and tallied 947 assists (7.89 per set). She often moved to the right side when her rotation brought her to the front row, and also tallied 181 kills (1.51 per set), while hitting .275 (she had four kills all of last year). Defensively, she ranked second on the team with 348 digs and also led the Athenas with 69 aces.
Walker stepped up in a big way for CMS this fall after moving into the starting lineup, following a sophomore season which saw her appear in 16 of the team's 35 matches and accrue 79 kills. This year was a different story though, as she played in every match (except the two matches against Caltech when she was held out for rest). She finished the year with 407 kills, the most for an Athena since Kerkhof had 482 in the 2013 season, while hitting .239 despite heavy usage (1,111 attack attempts). She began the year by earning All-Tournament Team honors at the Pacific Coast Classic and MVP honors at the Trinity University Fall Classic, when she led CMS to a 4-0 record.
Tritschler stepped into the starting libero role this year and anchored the Athena defense with 612 digs (5.14 per set), the most for the program since Megan Coleman had 732 in 2014. Her dig total included 40 in a four-set win over Cal Lutheran, the first 40-dig effort since Werner had 41 in a five-setter against Southwestern in 2015. Moore, meanwhile, hit a team-best .326 from her middle position with 276 kills (2.46 per set) to go along with a team-best 103 blocks. Moore was also big in the clutch, recording the winning kill at 18-16 in the fifth set against Brandeis, 16-14 in the fifth set against Whittier and 15-13 in the fifth set against La Verne.
The Athenas earned strong representation on the All-America teams this year after an overachieving season in which they went 27-4 overall and spent the entire season ranked in the top six in the national poll. CMS earned the program's first-ever national championship last year, but graduated eight seniors off that team, and one of the starters in last year's postseason run, junior hitter Isabelle Taylor, barely played this season due to injury. In addition, highly-touted freshmen Melanie Williams and Makenna Fall had their rookie seasons sidetracked by injuries, while returning starting middle Regan Dinovitz missed the first half of the year due to illness.
To view the complete list of the AVCA Division III All-American selections, go to the following link:
2018 AVCA Division III All-America Team