STANFORD, Calif. – Led by two first-team selections, Stanford placed four players on the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America teams.
Jenna Gray and Morgan Hentz were named to the All-America first team, while Audriana Fitzmorris and Madeleine Gates were third-team picks.
The selections bring Stanford's total AVCA All-America award count to 105 honors spread over 42 players. It marks the seventh straight season in which the Cardinal has produced at least four All-Americans.
Gray and Hentz are earning first-team honors for the third straight season and are the 10th and 11th Cardinal to be three-time first-team selections, respectively. Fitzmorris is being recognized for the fourth time in her career, earning second team in 2017 and 2018, and honorable mention as a freshman. Gates is now a two-time All-American, having been a second-team pick as a sophomore at UCLA.
Gray, a native of Shawnee, Kansas, paces the Pac-12 and is eighth nationally with 11.53 assists per set. As a team, the Cardinal is hitting a Pac-12-best .299, ranking fourth in the nation. The three-time Pac-12 Setter of the Year leads the team with 10 double-doubles this season. She is second in program history in career assists (5,405) and ninth all-time in the Pac-12. Furthermore, her 5,405 assists are the most in program history in the rally-scoring era to 25. Gray is also third in school history with 136 career aces.
Now a three-time Pac-12 Libero of the Year, Hentz leads the conference with 4.94 digs per set and has just 11 reception errors on the season. The Lakeside Park, Kentucky, native broke the school record for career digs in November. She is currently fourth in Pac-12 history with 2,270 career digs. Her 4.70 career digs per set average is the best in program history. She has recorded double-digit digs in all but two matches in 2019, and reached the 20-plus dig mark in 17 matches. She was one of three Cardinal named to the Stanford Regional All-Tournament Team.
Fitzmorris, an opposite from Overland Park, Kansas, is 10th in the Pac-12 with a .312 attack percentage and 10th with 1.01 blocks per set this season. Her hitting percentage is the highest in the league of any non-middle blocker. She has recorded double-digit kills in 15 matches and four or more blocks on 16 occasions. She is fifth all-time at Stanford with 609 career blocks, becoming just the fifth Cardinal to register at least 600 blocks.
Gates, a three-time all-conference honoree, led the Pac-12 in league matches with 1.43 blocks per set. On the season, her 1.42 blocks per set ranks 14th nationally. She is sixth in the Pac-12 with a .332 hitting percentage on the season. Her 162 total blocks in 2019 are fourth most in the Pac-12 and ranks 11th nationally. She was also one of three Cardinal named to the Stanford Regional All-Tournament Team.
Senior Kathryn Plummer was ineligible for All-America honors as she did not meet the AVCA's 2/3 (66.7%) sets played requirement for the regular season.
No. 1 Stanford is making its 23rd appearance in the national semifinal on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The Cardinal will square off against No. 7 seed Minnesota at 6:30 p.m. PT on ESPN.
