SEALS NAMED GNAC WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL COACH OF THE YEAR; Saints Land four on GNAC All-Conference Team
BOSTON, Mass. – Emmanuel College women’s volleyball Head Coach Denitra Seals has been named the 2014 Great Northeast Athletic Conference women’s volleyball Coach of the Year, it was announced by the conference office earlier today. This marks the second consecutive season that Seals has been honored as the conference’s top coach by her peers.
BOSTON, Mass. – Emmanuel College women's volleyball Head Coach Denitra Seals has been named the 2014 Great Northeast Athletic Conference women's volleyball Coach of the Year, it was announced by the conference office earlier today. This marks the second consecutive season that Seals has been honored as the conference's top coach by her peers. Along with the announcement, the Saints landed four players on the GNAC All-Conference team as sophomores Cassie Chruscielski (Duluth, Minn.), Kaitlyn Atkinson (Brookline, N.H.), junior Shannon Dudley (Morro Bay, Calif.) and senior Cara Callahan (Medway, Mass.) all earned Second Team honors.
Seals earns GNAC Coach of the Year honors after leading the Saints to a 23-11 regular-season record including a 10-1 mark in conference play to earn the No. 1 seed heading into the GNAC tournament. EC was able to advance to the GNAC Semifinals for the sixth time in seven years under Seals before falling to Johnson & Wales University to wrap the season with a 24-12 mark.
Since taking over the program in 2007, Seals has posted an overall record of 145-124 for a winning percentage of .539. She's led the Saints to back-to-back 20+ win seasons and coached a total of 20 All-Conference players during her eight seasons at the helm.
Chruscielski makes her second straight appearance on the All-Conference team, earning Second Team honors a year after she was tabbed the GNAC Rookie of the Year. The outside hitter ranked first on the Saints and sixth in the GNAC with 300 kills while her 295 digs was third on the team and 16th in the conference. She also ranked fifth in the GNAC in aces with 54 on the year.
During her two seasons, Chruscielski has totaled 604 kills and 577 digs through 73 matches.
Atkinson joins her classmate on the GNAC Second Team for the second consecutive year following another productive season. The middle hitter slammed home 275 kills to rank second behind Chruscielski and eighth overall in the GNAC. Her .278 hitting percentage was tops among the Saints and ranked third overall in the GNAC while her 85 total blocks was good for fifth overall in the conference.
Atkinson has accumulate 556 kills and 157 total blocks in just two seasons with Emmanuel.
Dudley also makes a back-to-back appearance on the GNAC Second Team serving as the Saints floor general in 2014. The setter dished out a total of 754 helpers to rank fifth in the GNAC while also collecting 336 digs to rank first among GNAC full-time setters. The junior put together 29 matches with 10+ assists including a season-high of 39 in a 3-1 win over Eastern Conn. State University on Sept. 10.
In her three years with Emmanuel, Dudley has amassed 1,998 assists to go along with 825 digs.
Callahan makes her first appearance on the GNAC All-Conference team as the Second Team libero following an impressive senior campaign in which she recorded 484 digs to rank third overall in the GNAC. Callahan posted 23 matches with 10 or more digs and ended the year averaging 3.93 digs per set.
The senior wraps up her four year career with 1,514 digs to rank third all-time.