WSU volleyball outside hitter Eliana Ti’a won the annual Cougar Sports Awards’ Female Freshman of the Year Award Monday night, according to sources at Washington State Athletics.
Ti’a was one of four nominated for the award. She won it over basketball’s Malia Ruud, golf’s Kaitlyn Helm and swimming’s Barbora Mileisyte.
The Meridian, Idaho, native appeared in every match in the fall and recorded the third-most kills (229) and blocks (56) on the team, averaged 2.34 kills per set and hit .189. She was named to the All-Freshman West Coast Conference team and won WCC Player of the Week twice in back-to-back weeks in early September.
She had nine matches with 10 or more kills and six with a hitting percentage of .300 or better. She logged a season-high 17 kills against Grand Canyon University in early September. In the Cougs’ last match of the year, Ti’a put up 16 kills while hitting .583, her highest hitting percentage all season.
She helped lead the Cougs to a 17-11 overall record, which was one more win than the team had the year prior. The Cougars finished No. 5 in the WCC and started conference play 5-0.
