STANFORD, Calif. – The Stanford women's volleyball team had five players recognized when VolleyballMag.com announced its All-America selections today, led by redshirt senior Inky Ajanaku who was selected as the National Player of the Year.
Ajanaku is a member of the VolleyballMag.com (formerly known as Volleyball Magazine) first team for the second time in her career as she was also named the National Player of the Year after her junior season in 2014. Freshman Kathryn Plummer earned second team honors, while freshmen Jenna Gray and Morgan Hentz, and redshirt junior Merete Lutz all garnered honorable accolades.
Ajanaku is a three-time VolleyballMag.com All-American, also earning third team honors in 2013. The four-time All-Pac-12 Conference selection paced the league with 1.54 blocks per set and was second in 2016 in hitting percentage (.407), ranking in the top 15 nationally in both categories. She was also second on the team in kills (360) and points (468). A Senior CLASS Award first team All-American, Ajanaku's .413 career hitting percentage is the second-highest in program history behind Foluke Akinradewo (.443). The Tulsa, Oklahoma native also finished her career ranked third on the Cardinal's career blocks list with 627, becoming just the fourth player in school history to surpass 600 blocks. The Madison Regional MVP, Ajanaku was also named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
Plummer, a native of Aliso Viejo, California, led the Cardinal in kills (431) and points (512.5) as an outside hitter. The second Stanford player to be named the AVCA National Freshman of the Year, she was the 12th player in program history to earn Pac-12 Freshman of the Year recognition. She ranked eighth in the Pac-12 in points per set (3.97) and ninth in kills per set (3.34) this season to pace Stanford. She also led the team with 12 double-doubles and posted a team-high in kills in 23 of the 34 matches. She was one of three Cardinal players named to the All-Pac-12 Conference Team and earned Madison Regional and NCAA Final Four all-tournament honors.
Gray, who hails from Shawnee, Kansas, took over as the team's starting setter in a 5-1 system in mid-October. During those 19 matches, she averaged 11.93 assists per set and 0.81 blocks per set. For the season, she racked-up 1,173 total assists and 19 service aces. She helped direct Stanford to a .274 team hitting percentage, ranking second in the Pac-12. Gray was one of four Cardinal players named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team.
Hentz was Stanford's starting libero out of Lakeside Park, Kentucky. The freshman shattered the Cardinal's single season digs record, totaling 630 in 2016. Her 4.88 digs per set was the third-best mark in school history and ranked third in the Pac-12. She tallied double-digit digs in all 34 matches this season and reached the 20-dig plateau on 13 occasions. In fact, four of those came in the final four matches of the NCAA Tournament. Hentz was also named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team.
Lutz, a native of Houston, Texas, is now a three-time VolleyballMag.com All-American, collecting third team honors in 2014 and 2015. The three-time All-Pac-12 Conference selection switched from the middle to opposite this season. She averaged 2.29 kills and 1.02 blocks per set while hitting .272. In Pac-12 matches, she ranked ninth in hitting percentage (.298) in the conference. Her .358 career hitting percentage is tied for the sixth-best mark in program history. She is now 65 kills away from 1,000 for her career.
Stanford capped off the season with the program's seventh NCAA title, defeating Texas in four sets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on Dec. 17. The seven championships ties Penn State for the most in the nation.