FULL ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS AND INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

FARMINGTON, Utah — Ellie Snook solidified her spot among the best liberos in the history of the Portland State volleyball program Tuesday as the sophomore earned Big Sky Libero of the Year honors, the fourth time in the past nine seasons that a Viking has earned the award from the conference.
 
Snook joins Kasimira Clark (2012, 2013) and Tasha Bojanic (2017) as Vikings who have been named Big Sky Libero of the Year. Both Snook and Clark earned the honor as sophomores, as Clark was in her second year when she first received the award in 2012.
 
"We have a strong history of receiving this honor in our program, and we could not be more proud of Ellie representing Portland State volleyball at the top of her position," head coach Michael Seemann said of Snook.
 
"On paper, she clearly is the best defender in the conference, but more importantly, she consistently fuels our team to compete hard in practice every day. If it were up to her, we would skip warming up and skill development and get right to competing. Her passion for competing is contagious, and her teammates benefit from that trait."
 
Snook bookended her 2021 winter season with a strong start and finish to the year. She recorded six 20-dig matches to open the year, and then closed the season averaging 5.73 digs per set as the team won five of its last six matches of the year.
 
Opponents failed to hit over .125 against the Vikings in four of their last five matches thanks to Snook and the Viking defense. Additionally, Snook anchored a Viking defense that led the Big Sky while ranking 46th in the nation with 17.13 digs per set this season. The Vikings led the conference by more than a full dig per set, as Sacramento State ranked second in the conference at 15.93 d/s.
 
"Ellie is one of the best at utilizing what she sees in the opponent and turning her reads into quality digs. She is a big reason why we kept the strongest offensive teams in the conference to low hitting percentages against us," Seemann said.
 
Individually, Snook ranked second in the Big Sky and 41st in the nation with 5.07 digs per set this season. The part that doesn't count towards that was Snook's role in serve receive. A late-season switch in strategy had Snook receive 80 percent of opponents' serves, according to Seemann, and the Vikings saw a dramatic drop in aces against them since that switch. Opponents averaged 1.58 aces per set over the last four weekends of the season after averaging 2.26 aces per set over the previous four.
 
Snook's role in serve receive also helped the Viking offense get in rhythm for its strong stretch run. The Vikings hit .207 as a team over their last six matches after hitting .173 over their first 12. 
 
Snook also received All-Big Sky second-team honors Tuesday, the second straight season in which she made the second team.