By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – Returning for her final season of volleyball at Seattle Pacific University, senior middle blocker Hannah Hair was selected by the Great Northwest Athletic Conference coaches as the league’s preseason player of the year ahead of the fast-approaching 2024 campaign.
 
Hair, who became the first player in GNAC history to claim both GNAC Player of the Year and GNAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, headlines a list of 14 players from eight GNAC schools who were named to the preseason all-conference team. Central Washington, which was picked by the coaches as the GNAC preseason favorite, and Western Washington each had three preseason all-conference selections to lead the league.
 

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Hannah Hair – Preseason Player of the Year
Seattle Pacific University
Senior – Middle Blocker
 
Hair led Division II volleyball last season with 1.63 blocks per set, notching the second-highest single-season mark in GNAC history. Hair’s 160.0 total blocks were tied for fourth most in GNAC single-season history, and her 35 solo denials were sixth most by any GNAC player since the conference was founded in 2001. Not only was Hair a defensive force, but her hitting percentage of .312 ranked fifth in the league in 2023 and she averaged 1.66 kills per set.
 
Hair garnered AVCA second-team All-American recognition after leading the Falcons to their first GNAC title since 2011 and a berth into the NCAA West Region Championships. Hair enters the 2024 campaign ranked fifth in GNAC history with 471 career blocks. She’ll have a chance to become the third player in GNAC history to reach the 500 mark, with the GNAC career record of 597 being held by Western Washington’s Kayleigh Harper (2015-16, 18-19). Hair is also fourth on the GNAC career list in blocks per set (1.35) and 14th in solo blocks with 66.

 
Allison Wilks
Seattle Pacific University
Senior – Middle Blocker
 
Alongside Hair at the net this fall will be fifth-year senior Allison Wilks, who was an integral part of the Falcons’ championship team from a season ago. Wilks led the GNAC with a hitting percentage of .404, while averaging a career-high 1.60 kills per set and playing in all 27 of the Falcons’ matches. Wilks also contributed to SPU’s NCAA second-ranked blocks per set team average of 2.71, ranking 13th in the conference with 0.89 blocks per set. After enjoying career bests in aces (37), digs (81), total blocks (90.0), assists (17) and total kills (162), the reigning first-team all-GNAC selection should be primed for another standout season.

 

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Emma Daoud-Hebert
Central Washington University
Senior – Middle Blocker
 
Another unanimous first-team all-conference pick from the 2023 campaign, Daoud-Hebert owns a blocking resume equally impressive to Hair’s. The Wildcat fifth year ranked second in Division II volleyball last season with 1.41 blocks per set, helping the Wildcats go 14-4 during their conference schedule and finish second in the GNAC standings. Also a force to be reckoned with on the attack, Daoud-Hebert ranked third in the GNAC with a hitting percentage of .346 and she put up 1.87 kills per set.
 
Like Hair, Daoud-Hebert is also on the climb amid the GNAC record books, with her 380 total blocks entering her final season ranking 19th in conference history. Daoud-Hebert also ranks second in GNAC history in blocks per set with 1.39, trailing only former Wildcat Sabrina Wheelhouse who set the all-time record at 1.45 blocks per set (2014-17).
 
Hannah Stires
Central Washington University
Senior – Libero
 
The Wildcats have another fifth-year veteran back in the lineup, with Stires being one of the top liberos in the west region. The 2021 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year, Stires, earned her third straight all-conference and all-region accolades after a superb 2023 season. The Nine Mile Falls, Wash., native ranked second in the conference with 4.93 digs per set and played in all 95 sets for the GNAC runners-up. Stires has become one of the premier defensive players in GNAC history, entering her final collegiate season ranked 20th all-time in total digs with 1,524 and 16th all-time in digs per set with 4.75.
 
Scottie Ellsworth
Central Washington University
Junior – Right Side
 
Perhaps no player in the conference had a breakout season quite like Ellsworth, who figures to be one of the GNAC’s premier talents at the outset of 2024. After playing in just three matches during her first two collegiate seasons in 2021-22, Ellsworth became a fixture in the Wildcat lineup playing in all 27 matches and all 95 sets during her sophomore campaign. She ranked ninth in the conference with 2.72 kills per set, while chipping in 0.66 blocks per set and an average of 3.05 points per set.
   

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Brooke Dexter
Simon Fraser University
Senior – Opposite Side
 
Simon Fraser received a pair of first-place votes in the preseason poll, in large part due to the presence of Dexter and Jocelyn Sherman, who was also tabbed preseason all-conference. Dexter put up an average of 2.67 kills per set to rank 10th in the GNAC, and posted an attack percentage of .269 to rank 11th in the conference. Her 3.09 points per game were 10th most in the GNAC in 2023. A three-time first-team all-conference selection, Dexter will look to repeat her production from 2021 when she averaged a career-best 4.16 kills per set and won GNAC Freshman of the Year honors. Dexter enters the 2024 campaign 58 kills shy of the 1,000 mark for her career.
 
Jocelyn Sherman
Simon Fraser University
Senior – Outside Hitter
 
Leading the SFU attack last season was Sherman, who ranked fifth in the GNAC with 3.12 kills per set and fourth in the conference with 0.45 aces per set. The Victoria, B.C., native enjoyed the most productive season of her career, with her stat figures across the board being career highs including her 3.79 points per set which ranked her fifth in the league. In her fourth season with the Red Leafs, Sherman has become a fixture in the lineup playing in 75 matches. Sherman has also improved defensively by statistical measure, averaging a career-best 2.84 digs per set last year and beginning this season with 103.0 career blocks.

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Devyn Oestreich
Western Washington University
Junior – Outside Hitter
 
Earning preseason all-conference recognition for the second year in a row, Oestreich lived up to the hype by being a unanimous first-team all-GNAC pin hitter in 2023. The Olympia, Wash., native was outstanding in her first season as a full-time starter, ranking 11th in the GNAC with 2.61 kills per set, eighth in the GNAC with 3.44 digs per set and eighth in the GNAC with 3.25 points per set. Oestreich racked up 12 double-doubles in 2023 including a spree of four in a row from Sept. 16-30 and a string of three in a row from Nov. 11-18 to finish the season strong.
 
Emily Vossenkuhl
Western Washington University
Sophomore – Middle Blocker
 
Garnering honorable mention all-conference recognition in her first season on the floor in 2023, Vossenkuhl was a staple for a Viking team that rallied to go 12-6 in conference play and finish third after an 0-8 start to the season. The top net presence for the Vikings a season ago, Vossenkuhl ranked third in the GNAC with 1.18 blocks per set behind only the All-American duo of Hair and Daoud-Hebert. She posted a solid hitting percentage of .258 while averaging 1.72 kills per set in her debut collegiate season.
 
Delaney Speer
Western Washington University
Sophomore – Outside Hitter
 
Another returning starter for the Vikings, who were tabbed third in the preseason coaches poll, Speer saw action in all 26 matches and racked up 94 sets worth of experience in her redshirt freshman campaign. Speer’s 2.18 kills per set and 2.78 digs per set were both second most on the team, and she posted six double-doubles. Finishing the season on a tear, Speer posted a season-high 24 digs on Nov. 11 against Saint Martin’s and averaged 14.83 digs across her final six matches of the season.  

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Madison Hornback
Western Oregon University
Senior – Outside Hitter
 
The 2023 GNAC leader in kills per set with 3.56, Hornback returns to an ambitious Wolves roster for her final collegiate campaign in 2024. Her attack average was more than a full kill higher than her previous career best of 2.47 kills per set in 2022, and she trended upward statistically in multiple categories. Hornback ranked 12th in the conference with 3.11 digs per set, and her 0.47 blocks per set were a career high as well. The Oregon City, Ore., native caught fire towards the end of the season, picking up a GNAC Player of the Week honor after totaling 50 kills in two matches on Oct. 26-28 and averaging 4.43 kills per set over her final eight matches of the year.
 

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Karli Nielson
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Senior – Outside Hitter
 
Back for her fifth season up north, Nielson will look to build off her most productive collegiate campaign to date in 2023. The South Weber, Utah, native ranked seventh in the GNAC in kills per set with 2.93 and seventh in points per set with 3.38, with both figures being career highs. She also posted a personal best 1.94 digs per set, racked up 29 service aces and chipped in 0.40 blocks per set on her way to first-team all-GNAC honors in 2023.
 
 
 

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Emily Garten
Saint Martin’s University
Sophomore – Outside Hitter
 
One of three underclassmen on the preseason all-conference list, Garten put together an honorable mention all-GNAC performance in her debut collegiate season last fall. Garten ranked third in the conference in points per set with 4.04 in 2023, and was right behind Hornback at No. 2 in the conference with 3.39 kills per set. Garten also ranked second in the GNAC with 0.53 aces per set and picked up a GNAC Player of the Week award last November. Finishing her freshman season strong, Garten reached double figures in kills in nine straight matches, averaging 3.71 kills per set and hitting .365 from Oct. 21-Nov. 18.
 

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Miya Koch
Northwest Nazarene University
Senior – Right Side
 
A key component for the Nighthawks in 2023, Koch saw action in all 26 matches and played in 101 sets during her junior campaign. Her offensive figure of 2.11 kills per set was a career best, and she chipped in 1.75 digs per set, 0.55 blocks per set and 2.48 points per set. A two-time academic all-conference selection, Koch doubles as a high jumper on the NNU track and field team.