Aubrey Bekendam

The American Volleyball Coaches Association announced its women’s volleyball All-America teams for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, as selected by the NAIA Volleyball All-America Selection Committee.

Highlighting the AVCA’s 2012 NAIA honor list for The Master’s College is Aubrey Bekendam (Orland, CA) who earned the 2012 AVCA NAIA Freshman of the Year award.

Bekendam finished her freshman campaign with 349 assists, 120 kills, 174 digs, and 11 service aces. The freshmen setter also placed 10th in the Golden State Athletic Conference in both digs (91) and hitting percentage (.277).

TMC’s Sam Dougherty continues to earn national recognition as the junior outside hitter made it on the 2012 AVCA Second-Team All-America list.

Samantha Dougherty

The Madera, California, native landed a spot on the second team following a campaign in which she led the Mustangs to a 27-8 record, a program-best No. 11 national ranking, and a resilient run at the national tournament. Dougherty finished the year with 452 kills, 372 digs, 56 service aces, and 22 assists. The Mustangs’ ace also finished the year first in the GSAC in service aces and third in kills.

Dougherty and Bekendam in action

This accolade came on the heels of Dougherty’s selection to the 2012 Tachikara-NAIA Volleyball Second-Team All-American list. In addition Dougherty earned All-GSAC honors accompanied by the GSAC’s “Player of the Week” award on two separate occasions this fall and was also a recipient of the NAIA’s “Volleyball National Player of the Week” award for the week of October 29-November 4.

TMC went 27-8 in 2012, finishing 10-4 and in third place in the GSAC. For the first time ever, the Lady Mustangs qualified for the NAIA National Tournament, making it as far as the first round of single-elimination play before being ousted by Oklahoma Christian.