2019 AVCA Division II All-American Release
2019 D2CCA Division II Volleyball All-American Release
One of the best seasons in the history of Hillsdale College volleyball was capped by two of its players earning coveted All-American status.
Senior libero Taylor Wiese was named honorable mention All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, in a release Tuesday afternoon.
Junior middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen was named First-Team All-American by both the AVCA and the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association. She was one of two middle hitter nationally to earn First-Team status by the AVCA, and her D2CCA award was voted upon by sports information directors across all of NCAA Division II.
Hillsdale's all-time leader in digs with 2,251, Wiese played at an extraordinarily high level throughout the 2019 season, anchoring one of the best defensive teams the Chargers have ever put on the floor. She led the Great Midwest Athletic Conference with 609 total digs and an average of 6.14 digs per set. She ranked in the top five in Division II in digs per set, and was named G-MAC Defensive Player of the Week three times.
During Hillsdale's G-MAC Tournament championship win over Tiffin Nov. 23, she set a school single-match postseason record with 34 digs in the 3-1 victory. That record lasted all of one match, as in her very next outing, the regional quarterfinal against Indianapolis, Wiese shattered her own record with 40 digs in a 3-2 win over the Greyhounds. Those 40 digs stand as a single-match school record, regular season or postseason, since the rally score era was introduced in 2001. But beyond her raw dig totals, Wiese stood out for her consistency, passing accuracy from the back row, and leadership, where she was a two-year captain for Hillsdale, and a key component in the Chargers' recent dominance in the G-MAC. With her on the court, Hillsdale has won 55 straight conference matches, 35 straight home matches and is the first team in G-MAC history to win three consecutive conference tournament titles.
It's difficult to have a more dominant season at the middle hitter position than Van Wienen did in 2019. She upped her game to a totally new level, shouldering more of an offensive load and performing at a level of combined efficiency and productivity that was off-the-charts.
In being named First-Team All-American by both organizations, Van Wienen was rightly recognized for a season for the ages. She rang up 414 kills, fourth-most in a season during the current 25-point rally score era (2008-present). Her .427 hitting percentage ranks second in all of NCAA Division II and was second-best in a season in school history.
Her season got started by being named the AVCA Division II National Player of the Week on Sept. 7 after a 21-kill, 7-block performance in an eye-opening 3-2 win over Concordia-St. Paul. That performance set the stage for a season in which Van Wienen was named G-MAC Offensive Player of the Week an unprecedented seven times. Even though teams game-planned against her all season, she found a way to control matches from the net with her power and accuracy. She had 16 kills in the regional final against a Rockhurst team that enters this week's Elite Eight was the No. 3 seed nationally.