Lai Leads Trio Honored by AVCA as All-Region; Lai Garners All-America Honorable Mention

(LEXINGTON, Ky.) – Senior setter Mindee Lai, senior outside hitter Laura Reichard, and sophomore right side hitter Elizabeth Schlemmer garnered all-region accolades from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) with Lai becoming the first Tartan since 2019 to be named to the AVCA All-America Team. 

Lai received honorable mention accolades on the AVCA All-America Team and first-team honors for Region 7. She helped orchestrate the Tartans' offense as the primary setter, dishing out 895 assists in 28 matches. She tallied the second-most assists in the University Athletic Association (UAA) while recording seven matches with 40 or more assists and a career-best 54 against the University of Mount Union. She also had 46 assists against ninth-ranked Emory for a career-high against UAA opponents.

Reichard was second on the team in digs with 482, recording more than 1,000 for her career through virtually three seasons. An outside hitter, Reichard was second on the team in kills with 279. She also had 39 service aces which tied for fifth on the team. She had a season-best 18 kills against the University of Chicago and reached double-digit kills in 16 matches for the season while she accumulated 27 matches with double-digit digs.

Schlemmer led the team with 315 kills and a kills average of 2.69 per set. The sophomore opposite also picked up 213 digs and 40 blocks for the season which was fourth and third on the team, respectively. Schlemmer had 14 matches with double-digit kills and a season-best 19 against Point Park with 17 against ninth-ranked Emory.

Reichard and Schlemmer were both Region 7 Honorable Mention selections.