Jarmoc Awarded AVCA Second-Team All-America
Dec. 12, 2012
2012 AVCA Division I All-America Teams
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LAWRENCE, Kan. – Redshirt junior middle blocker Caroline Jarmoc became the first Kansas volleyball player to earn All-America honors as the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) awarded Jarmoc Second Team accolades on Wednesday morning.
Jarmoc, a native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has enjoyed a long list of program firsts accompanied by a longer list of awards for her consistent performance all season long. The most recent recognition, however, marks a program milestone. Only one Jayhawk has previously earned Academic All-America honors (Paula Caten, 2005), but none has reached All-America status – until Jarmoc.
“It feels spectacular,” Jarmoc said. “It’s almost surreal. It’s a little hard to grasp the magnitude of what (this award) means, I think it will all hit when I get to Louisville, Ky. (for the AVCA All-America banquet). This has always been a dream of mine and I can’t thank my teammates enough for making it possible. I put in a lot of work this season and past seasons to be where I am now. I am very happy to be recognized. It’s an incredible feeling.”
Head coach Ray Bechard helped her put the magnitude of the award in perspective.
“It’s a very neat deal for her individually, but it’s huge for our program,” Bechard said. “When you do the right things, you train hard and your team has success, then some of these awards are going to come. We told her a lot of things that we thought she could be here. We didn’t talk about All-American, but we knew she could be a lot of great things and she certainly has been.”
Jarmoc led the 2012 Jayhawks to the winningest season in program history (26-7, .765), collected more home wins (17) than any other year, earned a program-best No. 6 RPI ranking, was ranked nine-straight weeks in the top-25 and posted its highest Big 12 Conference finish (3rd, 12-4). The regular-season success resulted in a No. 11 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and the opportunity to host the NCAA first and second rounds, both firsts for the program.
“She’s worked hard, first and foremost,” Bechard said. “She’s set goals for herself and that’s ok to set individual goals for yourself – and I’m sure being an All-American was one of them. She’ll be the first to admit that if we don’t win 26 matches or have a great year, then it would be difficult for her, but we did and she was a huge part of that.”
As the Jayhawks got rolling, so did Jarmoc. For all but four days in the middle of the 2012 season, Jarmoc led the Big 12 Conference in attack percentage and finished her redshirt junior campaign with the highest hitting efficiency in the league (.386) – breaking KU’s single-season record that stood for 10 years (Ashley Michaels, .363, 2002). She also now owns the program’s career attack percentage record (.330), also previously held by Michaels (.317).
“For a middle to hit at that efficiency, you have to be high-kill, low-error (every time out),” Bechard said. “What’s most impressive about that is that she continued to put up those numbers even after they knew she was good and they were game planning around her. That’s a high number. Of the records we have at Kansas, I thought our hitting efficiency number was one that could be broken and now she’s set that bar really high.”
In the final weeks of the season, Jarmoc surpassed multiple milestones for Kansas, highlighted by becoming the first player to record more than 400 kills (424) and 150 blocks (157) in the same season as well as the fourth Jayhawk in history to reach 400 career blocks (411). When she enters her senior season, Jarmoc could be the only player to post 200 kills and 100 blocks in four-straight seasons, as she has now accomplished the feat in her first three years.
Additionally, Jarmoc led the Jayhawks in 2012 with 31 service aces to showcase her effectiveness in several aspects of the game. When KU’s season came to a close in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the versatile middle blocker finished top-five in the Big 12 in hitting percentage (.386, 1st), points per set (4.46, 2nd), kills per set (3.45, 4th) and blocks per set (1.28, 4th).
Each of the three AVCA All-America Teams is comprised of 14 athletes. The Division I AVCA National Player of the Year will be announced on Dec. 14 at the AVCA All-America/Players of the Year Banquet.
The selections were made by the AVCA Division I All-America Committee: Santiago Restrepo, Oklahoma; Sherry Dunbar, Indiana; Lisa Seifert, Southern Methodist; Molly Alvey, Cincinnati; Jennifer Greeny, Washington State; Craig Skinner, Kentucky; Jeff Nelson, New Mexico; Tonya Johnson, Georgia Tech. The AVCA Awards Chair is Dayton head volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield.
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