Monroeville grad Kramer is Atlantic Region Player of the Year

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was a big day for former area volleyball standout Haley Kramer. Early in the day on Thursday, it was announced the 2016 Monroeville graduate and standout on the NCAA Division II Wheeling Jesuit University volleyball team was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Atlantic Region Player of the Year. Kramer, who had one of the highest hitting percentage in all of Div. II at .373. Later on Thursday, Kramer helped the Cardinals to a sweep over Winston-Salem in the first round of the 32-team NCAA championships. She finished the match with 15 kills and three blocks in the three sets. Top-seeded WJU (32-5) faces No. 4 seed Indiana (Pa.) at 7:30 p.m. tonight with hopes of a return trip to the Elite 8 round. Two years ago, WJU won the Div. II NCAA championship. A first-year starter, Kramer was the top hitter in the Mountin East Conference. The sophomore from Norwalk added the AVCA All-Atlantic Region honors a day after being named to the D2CCA All-Atlantic Region first team. She also earned All-MEC first team, MEC All-tournament team and MEC Player of the Week one time. The middle blocker pounded kills to a league-best and 15th in the NCAA .373 percentage with 442 kills on 973 swings. Kramer also ranked in the MEC in points per set (3.96), kills per set (3.43) and blocks (0.89/set). She hit .500 or better in 10 matches and another seven contests of higher than .400. Twice Kramer finished with a career-high 19 kills against Urbana and once against Shepherd. Haley is WJU's top blocker with 115 total blocks, and had a season-high nine total blocks against Urbana in the MEC semifinals. Also on the team includes twin sister Breanna and Norwalk graduate Abby Moffit. Breanna suffered a torn ACL in a preseason scrimmage and is out for this season. Together at Monroeville, the Kramer sisters helped Monroeville to its only trip to the Div. IV state semifinals, a five-set loss to Jackson Center in 2015. Haley was a three-time selection to the Firelands Conference first team and was All-Ohio second team as a senior.