IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 announced its 2020 volleyball preseason awards, including the All-Big 12 Team, Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Baylor’s Yossiana Pressley was tabbed the Preseason Player of the Year, while Kansas’ Caroline Crawford was named the Preseason Freshman of the Year. Eight of the 14 student-athletes on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team were unanimous selections. The preseason team and awards are voted on by the league’s head coaches who are not permitted to vote for their own players.
Nine honorees on the preseason list, including seven unanimous selections, were 2019 All-Big 12 First-Team members. Baylor’s Pressley and Hannah (Lockin) Sedwick, Iowa State’s Eleanor Holthaus, Oklahoma’s Keyton Kinley and, and Texas’ Brionne Butler, Logan Eggleston and Skylar Fields were the eight unanimous choices.
Pressley, the reigning AVCA and Big 12 Player of the Year, became the first Bear in program history to earn the Big 12’s Preseason Player of the Year nod. The outside hitter helped Baylor to a share of its first Big 12 title, a spot in the NCAA National Semifinals and to its first AVCA No. 1 national ranking. BU held the top spot for six weeks and was the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament a season ago. Pressley finished the 2019 campaign ranked in the top-10 nationally in four categories, including second in kills per set (5.4), fourth in points per set (5.8), ninth in attacks per set (12.5) and 10th in total kills (546).
Crawford was named the Kansas 5A State Player of the Year and an AVCA First Team Under Armour All-American in her senior season at Lansing High School in Lansing, Kansas. She competed on the U.S. Youth National Team, winning gold at the 2018 NORCECA Women’s U18 Continental Championship in Honduras before winning another gold medal at the 2019 Women’s U18 World Championships in Egypt. Crawford is the second Jayhawk in program history to be tabbed as the Preseason Freshman of the Year.
The 2020 Big 12 Preseason poll will be announced on Tuesday, June 30.
2020 Big 12 Volleyball Preseason Awards
Preseason Player of the Year: Yossiana Pressley, Baylor, OH, Sr.
Preseason Freshman of the Year: Caroline Crawford, Kansas, MB
2020 All-Big 12 Volleyball Preseason Team
| Name, School | Pos. | Ht. | Cl. | Hometown |
| Yossiana Pressley, Baylor#^! | OH | 6-0 | Sr. | Cypress, Texas |
| Hannah (Lockin) Sedwick, Baylor#^& | S | 6-1 | Sr. | Des Moines, Iowa |
| Marieke van der Mark, Baylor | OPP | 6-6 | Jr. | Papendrecht, The Netherlands |
| Candelaria Herrera, Iowa State^ | MB | 6-1 | Sr. | San Juan, Argentina |
| Eleanor Holthaus, Iowa State#^ | RS | 6-1 | Jr. | Richmond, Minnesota |
| Keyton Kinley, Oklahoma#^@ | DS | 5-5 | Jr. | Lexington, Kentucky |
| Sarah Sanders, Oklahoma^ | OH | 6-4 | Jr. | Plano, Texas |
| Katie Clark, TCU#* | MB | 6-3 | Jr. | Arlington, Texas |
| Brionne Butler, Texas#^ | MB | 6-4 | Jr. | Kendleton, Texas |
| Logan Eggleston, Texas#^ | OH | 6-2 | Jr. | Brentwood, Tennessee |
| Skylar Fields, Texas#^~ | OPP | 6-2 | So. | Missouri City, Texas |
| Brooke Kanas, Texas Tech | OH/RS | 6-2 | Jr. | New Braunfels, Texas |
| Brianna Lynch, West Virginia | MB | 6-2 | Sr. | Johns Creek, Georgia |
# – unanimous selection
^ – 2019 All-Big 12 First Team
* – 2019 All-Big 12 Second Team
! – 2019 Big 12 Player of the Year
& – 2019 Big 12 Setter of the Year
@ – 2019 Big 12 Libero of the Year
~ – 2019 Big 12 Freshman of the Year
Press Release Credit: Big 12 Sports
photo Credit: WVU sports
