Louisville’s Tillman, Pitt’s Gray Headline 2022 Volleyball All-ACC Academic Team

GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Louisville’s Amaya Tillman and Pitt’s Serena Gray have been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Volleyball Scholar-Athletes of the Year for the second consecutive year and headline the sport’s All-ACC Academic Team announced Tuesday.

 

Tillman is a graduate student at Louisville earning her Master of Education in Counseling and Personnel Services (M.Ed. CSP). The middle blocker from Topeka, Kansas, was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year a American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Third-Team All-American and earned AVCA East Regional First Team honors. Tillman helped lead Louisville to its second consecutive ACC Championship, back-to-back NCAA semifinal appearance and first ever appearance in the NCAA Championship in program history.

Tillman’s 1.46 blocks per set and 166 total blocks led both the ACC and Louisville while ranking 12th nationally. She posted a season-best 10 blocks at Pitt during the regular season and registered 15 games with five or more blocks as Louisville led the conference and finished third in the nation in blocks with 354. Tillman added 244 kills hitting .333 with 19 aces for the Cardinals.

 

This is Tillman’s fourth All-ACC Academic Team honor in as many seasons with the Cards, capping off the 2022 season as a NCAA Elite 90 Award Winner. She has made the Dean’s List every semester at Louisville, has been named a three-time Dean’s Scholar and Red & Black Scholar, and was tabbed to the ACC Honor Roll in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

 

Gray led Pitt to its fourth ACC Championship and a repeat appearance in the NCAA Semifinals in Pitt’s seventh consecutive and 18th overall NCAA Tournament. She was First-Team All-ACC, an AVCA East Coast All-Region selection, a AVCA First-Team All-American and a VolleyballMag.com Fourth-Team All-American. Gray also earned CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-America honors – one of two Panthers ever to earn Academic All-American, AVCA All-American and All-Conference honors in the same season.

 

Gray started all 34 matches for Pitt while leading the Panthers on an 18-game winning streak – the longest in program history and what was the longest active streak in the NCAA. The Temple City, California, native ranked second in the ACC and No. 18 in the NCAA with a season hitting percentage of .396. Gray posted the fifth-most total blocks in the league with 131.

 

Syracuse’s Polina Shemanova claimed All-ACC Academic Team honors for the…