BUFFALO — The Mid-American Conference announced its postseason volleyball awards on Wednesday morning and a pair of Bulls were honored as junior Cassie Shado was named to the All-MAC First Team and freshman Scout McLerran was named to the league’s All-Freshman Team.
Shado led the Bulls and the entire Mid-American Conference in hitting percentage over the 2016 season as she hit .400, becoming only the second player in UB school history to hit at least .400 for a season. Shado was second on the team with 241 kills and also second on the squad with 90 blocks, averaging 0.90 blocks per set. Her best match of the season came in a five-set win over Akron when she had 22 kills and just one error on 31 swings. She was named the MAC East Offensive Player of the Week following that weekend. She also had a match with 21 kills and just one error in a five set match against Central Michigan. Overall she reached double figures in kills nine times.
Shado becomes just the third UB player ever to be named to the All-MAC First Team and she is first since Tahleia Bishop earned the honor in 2014.
McLerran finished the season with one of the best years ever had by Buffalo setter. She finished with 1,005 assists, as she was eighth in the league in assists, but fourth in the MAC in conference matches only, averaging 10.10 per set. McLerran recorded 64 assists twice this season, the most in s single match by a UB player since 2005 and she also became the first UB setter with multiple 60-assist matches since 2005. Her 64 assists are the third most in a single-match this year, but she is the only setter in the conference to record at least 64 assists more than once in the season. In addition to leading the Bulls in assists, McLerran also led the Bulls with 27 service aces and she was second on the team with 229 digs. Earlier this season, McLerran became just the fourth different player in school history with 50-assists and 20-digs in the same match as she had 53 assists and 22 digs against St. Francis (PA). It was the first time any UB player had done that since 1999. All of McLerran’s accomplishments are more impressive in the fact that she is only a freshman and all of these accolades make her the only UB player to do it in the current 25-point scoring format, which was instituted in 2008.
McLerran is the first UB player named to the All-Freshman team since Shado in 2014 and she is just the sixth player in school history to earn All-Freshman honors.
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