Find out who made The Herald’s 2021 All-Area volleyball teams

The 2021 All-Area volleyball team and Coach/Player of the Year have been selected by The Herald’s sports department. The team features 16 players, all of whom were nominated by coaches of teams in York, Chester and Lancaster counties.

Alicia Lisee of the Catawba Ridge Copperheads has been chosen as the All-Area Coach of Year. She completed her third year at Catawba Ridge this past fall and led her team to the Upper State finals, where it lost to Pickens. The Copperheads finished with an overall mark of 23-9. Included in the total was a perfect 8-0 record in Region 3-4A.

She has watched her program improve each year in the three years since the school opened: This year’s team featured the Copperheads’ first senior class.

The All-Area team is headlined by Player of the Year Taylor Atkinson of the Nation Ford Falcons. Atkinson, a senior outside hitter and Duke University commit, completed the year with 448 kills, 43 blocks, 49 aces, eight assists and 314 digs en route to leading her team to a second-round 5A playoff appearance.

Since most teams use an average of eight players in their match rotations, this year’s teams has that number of players on both the first and second teams.

Meet the honorees below.

All-Area volleyball team

Player of the Year: Taylor Atkinson, Nation Ford

Coach of the Year: Alicia Lisee, Catawba Ridge

First team

Marissa Fakes, Catawba Ridge senior: The senior outside hitter and Catawba Ridge standout finished the campaign with 365 kills, 22 blocks, 27 aces, 11 assists and 268 digs.

Eva Moulds, Nation Ford senior: The libero finished with 406 digs, 63 assists and 35 aces.

Ariel Bryant, Catawba Ridge junior: The outside hitter tallied 177 kills, 96 digs, 13 blocks, 10 assists and three aces.

Megan O’Rourke, Rock Hill senior: The setter totaled 499 assists, 192 digs, 136 kills, 51 aces and 13 blocks.

Grace Duey, Fort Mill junior: The outside hitter had 245 kills, 223 digs, 40 aces and 23 blocks.

Julia Waugh, Clover junior: The outside hitter finished with 120 kills, 102 digs, 15 aces and five blocks.

Alexis Robinson, Andrew Jackson senior: The middle blocker compiled 365 kills, 198 digs, 62 blocks and 52 aces.

Second team

Cammie Mitrovich (sophomore outside hitter from Rock Hill); Janelle Blue (senior middle hitter from Clover); Kennedy Robinson (senior outside hitter from Fort Mill), Allie Colvin (sophomore setter from Lewisville), Bella Black (junior libero from Northwestern), Olivia Gandy (senior libero from Andrew Jackson), Jada Young (junior defensive specialist from South Pointe), and Elizabeth McElveen (junior defensive specialist from Northwestern).

The Herald published its fall 2021 All-Area golf, tennis, swim and cross country teams earlier this week. Stay tuned for the All-Area football team, which will be released soon.