Area players on Big 10 volleyball first team; PB’s Denison Player of Year

PHILIPPI -- Two-time Class AA state champion Philip Barbour placed three players on the all-Big 10 Conference volleyball first-team recently announced.

Senior Emily Denison, who was also named the league's Player of the Year, senior Averi Carpenter and sophomore MacKenna Halfin represented the Lady Colts on the first unit.

Elkins High School senior Olivia Guire and Buckhannon-Upshur senior Kendal Currence also earned first-team honors.

The remainder of the first team included Bridgeport's Alexa Martin and Myleigh Smell, Liberty's Gabby Floyd and Savannah Paterson, Robert C. Byrd's Avery Childers, Lewis County's Elle Stump and East Fairmont's Kaytlin Kelley.

Philip Barbour's Katie Kennedy and B-U's Alyssa Abel and Tori Perkins earned spots on the second team, which is also comprised of Bridgeport's Ella Sorine and Joslynn Kirsh, Liberty's Hailey Haynes, RCB's Gina Alvaro and Emma Swiger, Lewis County's Channing Carson, Lincoln's Ally Bragg, North Marion's Riley Miller and Grafton's Caroline Wellman.

Liberty's Chris Vance was tabbed the league's Coach of the Year.