Schoonmaker Highlights Women's Volleyball's All-CCC Selections

BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman middle hitter Riley Schoonmaker (Montgomery, N.Y.) was named the 2022 Commonwealth Coast Conference Rookie of the Year while two of her teammates – senior middle hitter Riley Waggoner (Simi Valley, Calif.) and sophomore setter Ashley Cao (Morrisville, N.C.) – were recognized by the Commonwealth Coast Conference for their honorable play throughout the 2022 season. The announcement was made after the CCC released its 2022 all-conference honorees and major award winners on Tuesday afternoon.

Earning the CCC Player of the Year honor was graduate student Amanda Gilbert (West Falmouth, Mass.) of Endicott. Senior Kenzley Bell (Lake Park, Ga.) of the Suffolk Rams was named Libero of the Year. Western New England Golden Bears senior Sarah Scott (Granby, Mass.) earned the conference Scholar-Athlete accolade. Gordon's head coach Sue Kelly was named CCC Coach of the Year while Curry earned the conference's team sportsmanship award.

Voting for the All-CCC Teams and major awards was conducted by the 10 CCC head women's volleyball coaches following the conclusion of the regular season.

Schoonmaker finished her rookie campaign playing in 25 contests (91 sets), totaling 116 kills and hitting .277. She struck for ten kills twice this season - once against Regis on September 22 and again in an impressive sweep over Gordon on October 12. The first year totaled a team-high 16 solo blocks, good for third-most in the CCC. She also assisted her teammates 91 times and notched 26 digs en route to being named the third rookie of the year honoree in program history.

Waggoner earned a spot on the conference's second team for the second year in a row, finishing her career with the Black and Gold in a season that featured 181 kills, five solo blocks, and a team-high 39 block assists. Her best all-around performance of the season came in a 3-0 sweep against Nichols on October 26, a match in which she led the team with 13 kills and six blocks, while hitting a a near-perfect .813 (13-0-16). Waggoner's hitting percentage of .304 also ranked fourth highest in the CCC this season.

Waggoner completes her career with 75 matches under her belt, totaling 484 kills and 134 blocks to go along with a hitting percentage of .310 that ranks second all-time in the program's history.

Cao had a breakout sophomore season where she had more than double her kill total for 2021-22 of 59 with 124 this go-around. In 25 matches, Cao had 321 assists and 3.38 assists per set. She also contributed with 21 blocks and 187 digs. She topped 20 assists in two contests this season and finished six of the team's last seven matches with over ten assists in each.

For her career, Cao has 183 kills in 54 matches to go along with a .145 hitting percentage, 751 assists, and 371 digs.

Wentworth finished the season with a 15-10 overall record and a 7-2 record in CCC play. The third-seeded Leopards battled Western New England to five sets in the quarterfinal round match of the CCC Tournament on November 1 but came up just short of advancing.

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