Feb. 5, 2009

Hayley Hills of the Eastern Washington University volleyball team has achieved accolades as a CVU.com Honorable Mention Stellar Spiker. She is one of just two Big Sky Conference players to be honored by the organization.

In 2008, Hills earned Big Sky Conference Player of the Year honors after a fantastic season. She averaged 4.56 kills per set, an average that led the conference and ranked her eighth among all NCAA Division I players.

The junior posted five of the six best kill performances by any Big Sky player in 2008. Her high of 30 came in a 3-1 win over Idaho State on Oct. 23. It not only tied for the second-best total in school history but is also the only 30-kill performance from a Division I player in a four-set match that season.

Hills was also honored three times in 2008 as a CVU.com Top Performer of the Week (Sept. 30, Oct. 14 and 28).

In deciding which players to honor, CVU.com looked for those who exhibited excellence and balance. While NCAA statistical rankings were considered, they were not the only consideration. Also considered was the impact the player had on helping her team succeed as well as conference awards.

First and second team selections were formed around the idea of building a team with a starting lineup of seven players and then two players per starting slot were chosen to fill out each team. The honorable mention team did not follow this pattern.

The other Big Sky player to be honored by CVU.com was Northern Arizona’s Brittany Stowers, who was second in the Division I ranks in 2008 with 6.32 digs per set. A complete list may be found here.

Hills and the Eagles finished the campaign 12-4 in Big Sky play to claim their first regular-season title since 2004. Eastern was 18-11 overall.