Ferris State Volleyball Lands Three All-Region Honorees And Coach Of Year Honor

Click Here For AVCA All-Region Team
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Big Rapids, Mich. - A trio of Ferris State University women's volleyball standouts have earned All-Midwest Region honors and the Bulldogs also received a major award as a pair of postseason regional announcements were made on Wednesday.

FSU senior hitter Katie O'Connell (Evergreen Park, Ill.) garnered 2021 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Midwest Region First Team accolades while senior libero Nina Gorgijevska (Potsdam, Germany) and sophomore middle hitter Kira Merkle (Bellbrook, Ohio) both received AVCA Honorable Mention All-Region recognition.

Meanwhile, longtime Bulldog head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm was picked as the AVCA's Midwest Region Coach of the Year.

Additionally, O'Connell was also named Wednesday to the 2021 Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-Midwest Region Second Team in voting conducted by the region's sports information directors.

Previously, all three Bulldog student-athletes were chosen this fall to the All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) squad.

Since becoming Ferris State's fifth head coach in June 1996, Brandel-Wilhelm has resurrected the women's volleyball program. Her teams have made 15 NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, including 10 in a row. The Bulldogs enter 2021 NCAA postseason play with 25 wins, and are riding a 20-match win streak that dates back to mid-September.

Ferris State will play host to the 2021 NCAA Division II Midwest Regional set for Thursday thru Saturday, Dec. 2-4, at FSU's Jim Wink Arena. The Bulldogs open tourney action as the top seed and will face eighth-seeded Rockhurst (Mo.) on Thursday (Dec. 2) in the regional quarterfinal round starting at 5 p.m. (ET).