Emily Kortsen earned her third Tri-County Athletic League player
of the year award recently after leading the San Benito Lady
‘Balers to the NorCal state tournament and compiling a
league-leading 544 kills.
Emily Kortsen earned her third Tri-County Athletic League player of the year award recently after leading the San Benito Lady ‘Balers to the NorCal state tournament and compiling a league-leading 544 kills.
The senior Kortsen, who also recently signed a National Letter of Intent to play at Utah State next year, won the award as a sophomore and co-owned it as a junior with teammate Chelsea Fowles.
An outside hitter, Kortsen had likely her best game of the season in what was likely the biggest game of the season for San Benito (28-12, 11-1).
Playing in the semifinals of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs against Carlmont, Kortsen had a whopping 32 kills and 30 digs to help lead the Lady ‘Balers over the Scots in five games.
While Kortsen led just about everybody in kills, she also provided a team-leading 49 service aces, and supplied 320 digs and 74 blocks to boot.
Joining Kortsen on the all-league first team were middle blockers Bri Romero and Ali Sharp and setter Justine Hunter.
Hunter had a league-leading 1,112 assists in 2007. By comparison, 2006 co-player of the year and San Benito setter Chelsea Fowles had 998 assists.
Hunter also provided stellar numbers in service points, where she led the team with 394, and finished second for San Benito with 47 aces.
Bri Romero’s 587 digs on the year led the team and the league, while her 329 kills was good enough for second on the team. The senior also added 40 blocks for San Benito and 238 service points.
This was Romero’s third all-league selection.
Rounding out the foursome is Ali Sharp, whose 109 blocks led San Benito and the TCAL. Sharp provided 33 aces and 138 kills on the year. This was her second time being named to all-league.
San Benito ended its season after advancing to the second round of the CIF NorCal State Volleyball Championships, where it fell to Nevada Union in four games (21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-18).
Nevada Union played in the State Finals last weekend in San Jose, but lost in four games (25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 26-24) to Southern California’s Lakewood.
