Lee University senior middle blocker Daisy Varbanova was named the Southern States Athletic Conference Player of the Year at the annual SSAC banquet on Thursday evening.

Varbanova has been a standout for coach Andrea Hudson's Lady Flames over the past two seasons. She is a key reason why Lee is unbeaten in two straight years of SSAC competition. This year the Lady Flames are 20-9 going into the second round of SSAC tournament play.
Lee's Courtney Williams was also selected as the Libero of the Year. Williams is a three-year starter and transferred to Lee from Michigan State University. Courtney is also a SSAC and NAIA All-American Scholar Athlete. Meghan Francis of Berry was selected the Freshman of the Year and Lauren Blackwell of Southern Wesleyan is the SSAC Setter of the Year.

Junior Bruna Langner and sophomore Katie Thornton also joined Varbanova and Williams on the All-SSAC team. Thornton is a setter, while Langner is a hard-hitting middle blocker.

Other members of the All-SSAC team are Southern Wesleyan's Lauren Blackwell and Kara Kelley; Faulkner University's Carrie Butler; Meghan Francis and Amanda Stiefel from Berry College; Kate Puckett of Shorter College and Debbie Sooter and Lakita Thomas of Brewton Parker.

The second team includes Jamie Boze and Molly Cline of Berry; Glennie Cepeda and Jenny Mealer of Shorter; Melinda Conley, Lexie Emerson and Brittany Harden of Faulkner; Chrissy Murphy of Brewton Parker; Casie Ploof and Kathy Thornton of Reinhardt; Donee Taylor of Columbia and Ligia Zobilli of Lee.

To see a complete listing of all awards please visit the Volleyball Awards page.