Three Fresno State volleyball players received honors from the Mountain West (MW) Conference Wednesday morning, according to a news release by Fresno State Athletics.
Desiree Sukhov, Reagan Leonard and Madelyn Halteman all recipients of honors from the MW. Sukhov was named the MW Newcomer of the Year, while Leonard along with Sukhov received All-MW honors and Halteman got an All-MW honorable mention.
The Bulldogs finished their 2019 volleyball season with a 14-16 overall record and a 7-11 conference record. Fresno State ended the conference in sixth place tied with Nevada in the standings.
Sukhov, had an average of 3.61 kills per set and managed to get 105 digs in conference play. She also had an average of 4.28 points per set and seven conference matches with 10 or more kills.
Head coach Jonathan Winder said in the release that this was a hard-earned recognition for Sukhov. He also said that Sukhov fit in right away and instantly raised the level of play in the program.
Leonard, had a total of 285 digs in MW play averaging 4.67 digs per conference match. She also had a season-high 30 digs in the game against UNLV and finished the season fourth overall in program history in digs per set averaging 3.68.
Halteman, had 527 assists for an average of 8.64 assists per set in conference play in her last season as a Bulldogs. She finished her collegiate career with the Bulldogs as third in career assists with 3,851 and tied for third in service aces with 136.
“As we continue to build a program the alumni and Valley is proud of, this is another point of pride in our program’s ability to achieve at a high level,” said Winder in the release. “We have fantastic administration, coaching staff, fans, and culture that allow us to sustain success,”
Despite finishing with a record that was short of what the expectations may have been going into the season, Winder knows that the effort of his team never faltered due in large part of the senior leadership of Halteman and the play of Sukhov and Leonard.
“Everything is earned and these three young women earned everything this season and did a ton for our program with their efforts,” said Winder. “We celebrate Maddy’s career here to boost this program up to another level and are excited to have Desiree and Reagan return for their senior seasons to keep climbing the mountain!”