By: Colby Wilson, Associate Director of Athletics Communications (Exclusive for LetsGoPeay.com)
As you've likely heard, we don't have any live-action contests to cover at LetsGoPeay.com right now. What we do have is free time; oodles and oodles of free time. Enough free time to swap oodles of emails with various people who would know to create a snapshot of the best players in Austin Peay volleyball history. And as always, there are players who were tough cuts from the top five who merit mention for their individual brilliance at Austin Peay.
Ashley Slay was the Ohio Valley Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and the heartbeat for the 2017 OVC Tournament champion Governor squad, rolling up 475 kills that season alone (fourth all-time) and 1,289 in her Austin Peay career. She was efficient in the attack, hitting .271 in her career (third all-time).
Connie Caldwell can be called the first great Austin Peay volleyball player, a two-time first-team All-OVC honoree who earned league Player of the Year honors in 1987. She also was the first player in program history to earn All-Tournament honors after being named to the 1986 squad.
Ginny Gerig Busse was the first Gov to earn the OVC's Defensive Player of the Year honor for a senior campaign that saw her post the 14th 500-dig season in program history. She exited Austin Peay as one of two players in program history with more than 2,000 career digs. Her 132 career aces also place her among the top-five in program history.
Sarah Alisaleh is the only player in program history with 4,000 assists, 1,000 digs and 200 aces, showcasing the wide array of skills that made her an indispensable part of the program from 2007-10. She was first-team All-OVC in 2009 and an all-tournament performer in 2010 after helping lead the Govs to a title.
Sarah Schramka remains, more than 15 years after her final match, Austin Peay's all-time kills leader at 1,530, making her the only Gov to record more than 1,500 career kills. She composed four 20-kill, 20-dig games in her career (second-most in program history) and one of just a handful of 400-kill, 400-dig seasons, which she did in her first-team All-OVC 2004 campaign.
Jessica Mollmann was a two-time All-OVC choice, a vital component of the 2010 championship team and one of five players in program history with 1,000 career kills and 250 total blocks. At the time of her graduation, she was one of six players in program history with multiple All-OVC nods.
Jada Stotts was the seventh and most recent member of the traditional "Double-Grand" (kills and digs) Club, posting more than 1,100 kills and digs in her career and earning an All-OVC honor in 2014. She averaged more than three kills and three digs per set over her final three seasons.
Annie Glieber still holds the program assists record, despite a furious push by Kristen Stucker in her final season. Included in that is a program match-record 84 assists against Eastern Illinois in 2000. Among Govs with 2,000 career assists, Glieber's 1,710 digs are the most and rank her fifth all-time of all Govs.
