Murray State University Athletics
Giustino, Holthaus Named All-Americans by VolleyballMag
12/26/2019 3:13:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Murray State volleyball senior standouts Rachel Giustino and Rachel Holthaus have each been named All-Americans by VolleyballMag.com, as released by the outlet earlier this week.
Giustino was named to the Fourth Team while Holthaus was named an Honorable Mention. For Giustino, it is her second All-America honors this season after being named Honorable Mention by the AVCA last week.
Giustino, the 2019 OVC Player of the Year, enjoyed one of the best seasons in MSU and OVC history this past year as she set a new single-season school record with 610 kills. That total is also the most in conference history in the rally-scoring era (since 2001) and is sixth-most all-time in the OVC, as well as being the third-most in the NCAA this season.
The Algonquin, Illinois native averaged 5.35 kills per set, which was third best in the country this year. She also became Murray State's career leader in total kills when she recorded her 1,599th kill against SIUE on November 1st and now sits on top with 1,764 kills. The senior was not a one-dimensional player as she was also second on the team with 345 digs and 29 service aces.
Holthaus is also coming off a tremendous season in which she was named All-OVC First Team. She led the Racers and was fourth in the OVC with a .304 hitting percentage and improved that even more in OVC play as she hit .342. Overall, she was second on the team with 333 kills and 3.08 kills per set. Holthaus was also one of MSU's primary passers as she had 214 digs from the back row in addition to 36 blocks in the middle.
Murray State's senior duo represented two of the three players from the Ohio Valley Conference to be named All-Americans by VolleyballMag as they were joined by Olivia Lohmeier from Morehead State.
