HADLEY, Mass. – Libero
Jenna Otaola '22 was named the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year on top of All-NESCAC First Team honors while a pair of middle blockers –
Brina Kuslak '22 and
Mariko Tanaka '24 – were named to the All-NESCAC Second Team, in an announcement made by the league office on Wednesday morning which was voted on by the league's coaches. This is the first career All-Conference honor for each Cardinal.
Otaola is the third Cardinal to earn the NESCAC's Defensive Player of the Year award since 2000 and the second straight, joining two-time honoree Ruby Hernandez '11 (won the honor in 2009 and 2010) and
Phia Bellizzi '21 who was distinguished with the award in 2019. The league leader in digs (444) and digs per set (5.22), Otaola has 59 more digs than the next-closest player in the NESCAC leaderboard. In addition, her 5.22 digs per set average puts her just inside the Top 50 nationally in that statistic. Otaola has at least 10 digs in all but two matches for Wesleyan this season while she has gone for 20+ digs 10 times in 23 matches. She posted a career-high 36 digs in the Cardinals' thrilling five-set home win over Middlebury on Oct. 8.
Kuslak has been a key piece in the middle for the Cardinals all season, particularly on offense as she ranks fifth in the NESCAC with a .332 attack percentage. Her 182 kills are third-most on the team while her attack percentage is the highest on the Cardinal lineup. She also has 44 blocks (10 solo) in 81 sets played, giving her a 0.54 blocks per set average which ranks 17
th-best in the NESCAC. Kuslak has hit .500+ in five matches this season including a season-high .667 percentage (six kills on nine attempts) in a win over Colby on Oct. 1. Arguably her best match of the season came in the Cardinals' five-set win over Middlebury as she tallied a career-high 17 kills, including the match-sealing kills in the fifth set, while she committed just three errors for a .467 attack percentage.
Tanaka has been an all-around force for the Cardinals down the middle this season, racking up a team-leading 66 blocks (24 solo) while adding 169 kills in 80 sets played. She sits tied for fourth in the NESCAC in blocks per set (0.83) while her 24 solo blocks are the second-most in the league. Her attacking has also been solid down the middle, hitting .240 on the season which ranks 20
th in the NESCAC while she is 17
th in points per set (2.88). Tanaka has four matches this season with 10+ kills while she has at least five total blocks in five matches. Undoubtedly, her best match of the season came against Middlebury in the five-set instant classic as she went for a career-high 23 kills, the most for any Cardinal in any match this season, against just four errors on 42 total attempts to go along with nine digs and four total blocks.
Middlebury leads all teams with four All-Conference selections while Wesleyan is tied with Bowdoin at three All-NESCAC honorees. This marks the third time in the past four season that the Cardinals have placed three players on the All-NESCAC Teams.
Wesleyan boasts a 17-6 overall record and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament which begins play this Friday. It's the fourth consecutive season that the Cardinals will be competing in the national postseason tournament. They will face Scranton on Friday, Nov. 12 at 5:30 PM on the campus of regional host RIT.
