SoCon Volleyball All-Conference Teams and Awards Announced

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – ETSU’s Makayla Bays was named the Southern Conference Volleyball Player of the Year for the 2025 season. The Buccaneers’ Lindsey Devine was named SoCon Coach of the Year and Wofford junior Laney Klika was selected as SoCon Libero of the Year, while Western Carolina’s Katie Boney was named SoCon Setter of the Year. Mercer outside hitter/right side Charlotte Thompson and Western Carolina middle blocker Tatum Sharp earned the Rayna Taylor Award, given annually to the league’s freshman of the year.

The league’s coaches voted on a pair of all-conference teams, an all-freshman team and the five individual awards. They were not allowed to vote for themselves or their own players. Thompson and Sharp were named Co-Rayna Taylor Award winners due to a tie in the voting.

Bays became the eighth ETSU player to earn SoCon Player of the Year honors. The sophomore helped the Bucs to the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Ingles Southern Conference Volleyball Championship. The native of Gate City, Virginia, was named SoCon Offensive Player of the Week twice this season. Bays completed the season second in the league in points (446.0), total kills (391) and service aces (38).

Devine won coach of the year honors for the second consecutive season after leading the Buccaneers to a 21-6 overall record, with the team going 15-1 in SoCon play. ETSU went 18-1 over its last 19 matches and only dropped consecutive matches during the opening weekend of the season back in August. Devine, who is in her second stint as head coach of the Bucs, won the honor for the fourth time in her career. The other years Devine won SoCon Coach of the Year are 2016, 2018 and 2024.

Klika averaged 5.02 digs per set this season, which leads the SoCon and is 13th in the NCAA. The product of Novelty, Ohio, is fourth in the conference in total digs (472). Klika, a junior, received SoCon Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 22. Klika, who won SoCon Libero of the Year for the second consecutive season, is the only player in the SoCon averaging over five digs per set.

Boney is the fourth player in conference history to be awarded SoCon Setter of the Year, joining ETSU’s Caroline Dykes, The Citadel’s Belle Hogan and Mercer’s Brooke Phillips, the winners in 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively. Boney finished the regular season with 1,000 assists, which leads the SoCon. The junior from Brookhaven, Georgia, was named SoCon Setter of the Week five times during the season. Boney was also the only player in the league to average over 10 assists per set during the regular season (10.20).

Thompson became Mercer’s first SoCon Freshman of the Year. Sharp is the Catamounts’ second selection, joining 2003 winner Kellyn Thaut. Thompson (244) and Sharp (234) are ranked 13th and 14th, respectively, in the SoCon in total kills.

ETSU led the way with five postseason all-conference or all-freshman selections followed by Wofford with four. Furman and Samford each had three selections, while UNCG and Chattanooga had two apiece. Mercer and Western Carolina both had one pick.

Bays and teammate Whitley Rammel represented ETSU on the first team. Rammel started all 27 matches for the Bucs, finishing in the top three in the SoCon in total blocks (118), blocks per set (1.17) and hitting percentage (.364).

Furman’s Tennyson Gorman, UNCG’s Allie Sweet, Samford’s Kaleigh Meritt, Chattanooga’s Sydney Jackwin and Wofford’s Bradley Brown rounded out the first team. Gorman leads the conference in total blocks with 152, which is seventh in the NCAA. Sweet, who made the first team for the second consecutive year, leads the league in points (519) and kills (454), both of which are in the top 15 in the nation. Meritt, a 2023 first-team selection, ranks behind Sweet and Bays in total kills with 380. Jackwin’s 420 points are third in the SoCon, while Brown sits in fifth place in the league in hitting percentage at .337.

The second team is highlighted by a trio of players from Wofford as Klika was joined on the second team by middle blocker Annemarie Rakoski and outside hitter Chloe Smith. Furman placed two players on the second team as outside hitter Ashley Stein and middle blocker Izzy Castelloe made the squad. ETSU outside hitter Brianna Cantrell and Samford outside hitter Ally Cordes complete the second team picks.

Along with Thompson and Sharp, the all-freshman team includes ETSU’s Sophie Davis and Bailey Gohlke, UNCG’s Connore' Siler-Nixon, Samford’s Sydney Waller and Chattanooga’s Jordin Glass.

The Southern Conference Volleyball Championship begins on Thursday with a matchup between Western Carolina and The Citadel. The tournament continues on Friday with four quarterfinal matches. Saturday features a pair of semifinal matches, with the championship set for Sunday at 4 p.m. All eight matches will be held in Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina.

2025 All-Southern Conference Volleyball Teams and Awards

Player of the Year – Makayla Bays, ETSU, So., OH  
Co-Rayna Taylor Freshman of the Year – Charlotte Thompson, Mercer, OH/RS and Tatum Sharp, Western Carolina, MB

Libero of the Year – Laney Klika, Wofford, Jr.
Setter of the Year – Katie Boney, Western Carolina, Jr.
Coach of the Year – Lindsey Devine, ETSU
 
All-SoCon First Team
Makayla Bays, ETSU, So., OH

Whitley Rammel, ETSU, Sr., MB

Tennyson Gorman, Furman, So., MB

Allie Sweet, UNCG, So., OH

Kaleigh Meritt, Samford, R-Jr., OH

Sydney Jackwin, Chattanooga, Sr., OH

Bradley Brown, Wofford, So., MB
 
All-SoCon Second Team

Brianna Cantrell, ETSU, Sr., OH

Ashley Stein, Furman, So., OH
Izzy Castelloe, Furman, Jr., MB

Ally Cordes, Samford, Jr., OH

Laney Klika, Wofford, Jr., LIB

Annemarie Rakoski, Wofford, Sr., MB    
Chloe Smith, Wofford, So., OH

 
All-Freshman Team
Sophie Davis, ETSU, OH

Bailey Gohlke, ETSU, S

Charlotte Thompson, Mercer, OH/RS

Connore' Siler-Nixon, UNCG, MB

Sydney Waller, Samford, OPP

Jordin Glass, Chattanooga, MB

Tatum Sharp, Western Carolina, MB