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Unscientific Predictions: 2013 Big East Volleyball Postseason Awards

With Thanksgiving falling the day before the conference tournament, I'm not sure if the traditional postseason awards banquet is tonight or tomorrow. So we'll take a swing at predicting the postseason awards today to make sure we get out in front of them.

By Brewtown Andy
Elizabeth Koberstein is the obvious choice for Player of the Year.
Elizabeth Koberstein is the obvious choice for Player of the Year.
MarquetteImages.com

Brace yourself for homer-tastic picks, though, even though they're the completely right picks.

(NOTE: We're all going to just pretend I clicked 'publish' on this an hour ago.)

Player of the Year: Elizabeth Koberstein, S, Marquette - One of the two preseason Co-Players of the Year, all Koberstein did this year was 1) lead the conference in assists, 2) rank third in the country in assists, 3) power the best offense in the league with a .287 hitting percentage and 14.89 kills per set, oh, and 4) found time to chip in a #BiskyKill and two digs in every set on average. Yeah, I'm not taking questions on this one. Next.

Rookie of the Year: Autumn Bailey, OH, Marquette - 13 Rookie of the Week awards and Bailey has six of them. She's also four kills away from the Marquette freshman record, and second in the league in kills with 4.29 per set. Next.

Libero of the Year: Brooke Ruffolo, Butler - Ok, if you want to make an argument for a few other liberos, I'll listen to them. But Seton Hall finished just over .500, St. John's finished at exactly .500, and Villanova finished well under .500, so I have a hard time taking their defensive prowess seriously. Meanwhile, Butler was picked to finish sixth in the league and they ended up fourth and in the Big East tournament and Ruffolo was a major part of that, averaging 4.75 digs per set.

Coach of the Year: Bond Shymansky, Marquette - See all that stuff I typed about Koberstein? Just go read it again, and then add this: three of Marquette's four best attackers are freshmen, and Shymansky was running out two completely different freshmen in the starting lineup all season long. On top of all of that, Marquette won their first conference title this season. Not first Big East title. First conference title, spanning every conference that Marquette has ever participated in for volleyball.

All Big East First Team

Elizabeth Koberstein, S, Marquette
Autumn Bailey, OH, Marquette
Brooke Ruffolo, L, Butler
Karin Palgutova, OH, St. John's
Alex Smith, MB, Xavier
Belle Obert, OH, Butler
Abbey Bessler, OH, Xavier
Kelli Browning, MB, Creighton
Lindsey Gosh, OH, Marquette
Aleksandra Wachowicz, OH, St. John's
Leah McNary, OH, Creighton
Lauren Carpenter, OH, Villanova