BENNINGTON, Vt. – The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) announced Monday its yearly awards and all-conference teams for the 2014 season with Southern Vermont College senior Anthony Barahona (Eagle Rock, Calif.) collecting his first career All-NECC First Team nod.
Barahona, who had garnered three honorable mentions in his previous seasons at SVC, is just the second Mountaineer in program history to pick up the first team selection; junior Joey Dighton (Riverside, Calif.) did so as a freshman back in 2012.
The first-team selection finished with 3.81 kills per set against the league (2nd best). The senior outside hitter tied for sixth with 22 total blocks in NECC matches while ranking 10th with 83 digs.
Barahona was named the NECC Player of the Week once during the season and was also selected to the NECC and MIT Scramble all-tournament teams.
The senior tallied 1,080 kills in his tenure at SVC, 459 more than the second player in the category. He is now also first all-time in career service aces with 89 and second in both all-time blocks (180) and digs (668). Barahona now owns the four top years in terms of most kills, besting his previous three season totals with 289 in 2014.
Elms College’s senior outside hitter Bryson
Rainey (Brookline, Mass.) was chosen as the NECC Player of
the Year, and Endicott senior defensive specialist Aaron
Jessee (Okinawa, Japan) was named the NECC Defensive
Player of the Year. Regis College freshman outside hitter
Sean Bisnett (Oxnard, Calif.) was selected as the
NECC Rookie of the Year and also earned an all-conference honorable
mention. Lesley University was given the Team Sportsmanship Award,
and George Chapell, Jr. of Endicott College was named NECC Coach of
the Year in a vote by his peers. Chapell is in his second season at
Endicott and led the Gulls to a 11-1 conference mark and second
straight NECC title.
Player of the
Year
Bryson Rainey, Elms (Sr, OH - Brookline, Mass.)
Defensive
Player of the Year
Aaron Jessee, Endicott (Sr, DS - Okinawa, Japan)
Rookie of the
Year
Sean Bisnett, Regis (Fr, OH - Oxnard, Calif.)
Coach of the
Year
George Chapell Jr., Endicott
Team
Sportsmanship Award
Lesley University
All-Conference
First Team
Anthony Barahona, Southern Vt. (Sr, OH - Eagle
Rock, Calif.)
Mike Coniglione, Endicott (Sr, MB - Glenville,
N.Y.)
Joe Coye, Regis (So, MB - Plaistow, N.H.)
Travis Netherton, Endicott (Sr, MB - Waukegan, Ill.)
Bryson Rainey, Elms (Sr, OH - Brookline, Mass.)
Joe Walz, Daniel Webster (Sr, OH - East Longmeadow, Mass.)
Honorable
Mention
Josh Anderson, Endicott (Sr, RS - La Canada, Calif.)
Sean Bisnett, Regis (Fr, OH - Oxnard, Calif.)
Ariel Frias, Daniel Webster (So, S - Lawrence, Mass.)
Jose Vargas, Daniel Webster (So, MB - Lawrence, Mass.)
Chi Yin Li, Newbury (Jr, OH - Framingham, Mass.)