Several area volleyball players picked up honors recently as handed down by the state's coaches.
Six area players were tabbed for all-state honors - three in Class 4 and three in Class 2.
Leading the way in Class 4 was Jefferson City's Abbi McKnelly, as she was one of nine players in the state to earn first-team honors. It was the second straight season McKnelly has been named all-state. Landing on the honorable mention portion of the squad were Helias' Erica Haslag and Jefferson City's Mallory York.
There were two area players on the Class 2 First Team, as California's Sydney Deeken and Fatima's Angela Keilholz earned that honor. Also, Fatima's Shelby Thoenen was a second-team pick.
Earlier, a total of 20 area players were named to the all-region teams for the Central/South Central Region.
Nine players from Helias and Jefferson City made the squad in Class 4. First-teamers for the Lady Crusaders were Haslag and Brittney Engelbrecht, while the Lady Jays had McKnelly and York. Second-team picks were Maggie Albert of Jefferson City and Anna Murphy of Helias, while honorable-mention selections were Helias' Blake Berhorst and Tory Wiley and Jefferson City's Madison Bond.
A whopping 10 area players made the Class 2 all-region team, with Deeken, Keilholz and Thoenen landing on the first team. Second-team picks were Blair Oaks' Jessica Clark, Maggie Hoskins and Paige Stockman, along with Fatima's Kenadi Huhn and Kayla Nilges. The honorable-mention picks were Fatima's Emily Keilholz and Eugene's Sarah Pringer.
In Class 3, Eldon's Alex Griffith was a first-team all-region pick.
In addition, Helias had three players earn spots on the Class 4 District 9 Team. Berhorst and Murphy were first-team honorees, while Haslag was a second-team pick.
The All-District teams are selected by the coaches at the district tournament and is based solely on play just at districts. The all-state and all-region teams, meanwhile, are based on the players' performances the whole season. The all-state teams are picked from the all-region honorees, which are selected by the coaches in each region who are members of the Missouri High School Volleyball Coaches Association. All area players are in the Central/South Central Region, which spans west to Pleasant Hill, east to Washington, north to Columbia and south to Osceola.
For the complete list of all-state players, please see All-State volleyball honors listed.