DALLAS - Conference USA announced its volleyball all-conference and superlative awards Wednesday ahead of the 2020 C-USA Volleyball Championship. Charlotte, Rice and Marshall were each awarded two individual honors by vote of the league’s 14 head coaches. No. 24 Rice’s Nicole Lennon was crowned C-USA Player of the Year for the second time in her career.
 
Ten Conference USA programs collected at least one all-conference selection with seven earning at least two and six boasting three or more. Charlotte and Rice each led with five winners each, while Marshall and No. 19 WKU picked up four apiece. UAB and UTEP rounded up three nods each, and Old Dominion tallied two honorees in its inaugural season. Middle Tennessee, North Texas and Southern Miss each had one player honored. 
 
Lennon was voted C-USA Player of the Year for the second season, the first in her sophomore campaign (2018) when she became the first-ever Owl to receive the honor. The Katy, Texas, product and Senior CLASS Award semifinalist is a three-time C-USA Offensive Player of the Week this season. The outside hitter currently ranks second in the league in total kills (282), total attacks (737), points per set (4.99), total points (334.0) and attacks per set (11.00). A two-time AVCA All-America honorable mention, Lennon currently ranks second among all active players in the NCAA with 1,692 career kills and 4,473 total attacks.
 
The second Owl to earn superlative recognition, Carly Graham is the third Rice setter in program history to claim Setter of the Year and the first since 2012. The junior has twice been named C-USA Setter of the Week during the 2020-21 campaign and ranks second in C-USA in assists per set (10.10) and third in total helpers (677). Those marks also place 61^st and 42^nd among all NCAA Division I players, respectively.
 
Both Lennon and Graham were also named to the 2020-21 Conference USA Volleyball All-Academic Team on Tuesday. Lennon made an appearance on the roster for the second-straight season.
 
Marshall junior Sarah Schank was also voted an All-Academic Team recipient before securing Libero of the Year honors, Marshall’s first superlative winner since 2016. The Illinois native transitioned to the libero position for the first time in her collegiate career, and in her first appearance broke an almost 22-year old program record with 40 digs in a road win at Xavier. She started all 14 regular-season matches for the Thundering Herd and finished the slate leading Marshall in digs (263) and C-USA in digs per set (4.87), which is also good for 58th in the NCAA. Schank tallied at least 10 digs in every match this spring and recorded 20 or more six times.
 
Thundering Herd senior Destiny Leon is C-USA’s third Defensive Player of the Year since the award’s inception in 2018. The Bon Air West Arouca, Trinidad, native ended her regular-season campaign on a high note, posting her 200^th career block in the finale. After tallying just nine total blocks in her first season with the Herd in 2018, the middle blocker is now averaging 1.31 stuffs per set (64 total), which ranks second in the league and 34^th in NCAA Division I. Leon has also strung together 41-straight matches with a block recorded.
 
Charlotte garnered a pair of first-time winners in the Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year categories. Newcomer Emani’ Foster has had a phenomenal start to her collegiate career. The outside hitter was named C-USA Freshman of the Week six times, including the spring’s first four titles. In 14 starts and 16 matches played, Foster paced the 49ers in points per set (4.94), kills per set (4.25) and service aces per set (0.40). Her average points are good for 25^th in the nation, and her kills per set rank 34^th. Foster was named AVCA National Player of the Week on Feb. 3, the program’s first national weekly award winner.
 
Coach of the Year Karen Weatherington guided her Charlotte squad to its winningest campaign since 1980, recording a 12-4 mark (.750) in the regular season with a school-record nine wins in conference play. The team’s nonconference slate included its second win in two seasons over an ACC opponent in Clemson. The 49ers make their return to the C-USA Championship after missing the trip in 2019, and ride a seven-match win streak to Hattiesburg.

The Championship’s quarterfinal slate begins noon CT Thursday with the final match of the day starting at 7 p.m. The two semifinal matches will take place at noon and 2:30 p.m. CT Friday, with the championship set for noon CT Saturday. All matches will be aired live on ESPN+. Coverage of the event including the tournament bracket, schedule, watch links, results and recaps can be found on conferenceusa.com’s Championship Central.
 
Player of the Year
Nicole Lennon, Rice
 
Setter of the Year
Carly Graham, Rice
 
Defensive Player of the Year
Destiny Leon, Marshall
 
Libero of the Year
Sarah Schank, Marshall
 
Freshman of the Year
Emani’ Foster, Charlotte
 
Coach of the Year
Karen Weatherington, Charlotte
 
All-Conference First Team
Emani' Foster, Charlotte
Ciara Debell, Marshall
Rhett Robinson, North Texas
Anota Adekunle, Rice
Carly Graham, Rice
Nicole Lennon, Rice
Fernanda Maida, UAB
Cheyenne Jones, UTEP
Lauren Matthews, WKU
Nadia Dieudonne, WKU
Paige Briggs, WKU
 
All-Conference Second Team
Amani McArthur, Charlotte
Sydney Rowan, Charlotte
Destiny Leon, Marshall
Sarah Schank, Marshall
Sydney Lostumo, Marshall
Alessia Sgherza, Old Dominion
Ellie Bichelmeyer, Rice
Duquesne Moratzka, Southern Miss
Alex Kells, UAB
Serena Patterson, UTEP
Katie Isenbarger, WKU
 
All-Freshman Team
Emani’ Foster, Charlotte
Lara Kretschmer, Charlotte
Amelia Van Der Werff, Middle Tennessee
Teresa Atilano, Old Dominion
Danyle Courtley, Rice
Erin Powers, UAB
Ava Palm, UTEP