Baylor Volleyball’s McGhee Named AVCA Honorable Mention All-American
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Baylor volleyball’s Kara McGhee has been named an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced on Wednesday.
After being named AVCA Southwest All-Region on Dec. 6 for the second time in her career, McGhee has earned her first All-American honor.
The middle blocker finished her senior season with 282 kills and 174 blocks. Her blocks place her fourth all-time for a single season in the Bears’ record book.
She finished her career with 52 solo blocks and 477 assisted for a total of 529 over her four years at Baylor. That solidifies her at fifth all-time, third in the rally-scoring era, in the BU record book. McGhee put up her 500th career block against Iowa State at home on Nov. 16, going up with her sister, Elise, for the block assist.
Kara McGhee also finished with 1.49 blocks per set for the year, placing her seventh all-time for a single season with the Bears.
McGhee shone in her final year with the green and gold, recording more kills, attempts, blocks and points than any of her prior seasons. Across the board, she had 12 matches with double-digit kills and two with double-digit blocks. McGhee led the team in kills four times, aces twice, blocks 22 times and in points four times.
During the regular season, she tallied two Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week awards, bringing her career total to eight. The first one came on Oct. 11 after putting up a double-double with 10 kills and 10 blocks against West Virginia at home. Her second came on Nov. 22 after she put up 11 kills and seven blocks against Iowa State, including her 500th career, and had six blocks against Texas on the road.
In the early non-conference matches of the season, the San Antonio native had 11 blocks against San Diego State. She earned Best Defender of the Baylor Invitational after recording 12 blocks in the tournament at 1.33 blocks per set. In the Baylor Classic, she was named MVP for recording double-digit kills in two of the three matches and tallying 20 total blocks.
McGhee broke her career-high kills at Texas Tech with 16, matched her career-high attempts with 30 in the same match, and broke her career-high digs with eight at Kansas.
In conference play alone, she had 89 blocks at 1.44 blocks per set and 152 kills at 2.45 kills per set.
Named Preseason All-Big 12 in August, she was a unanimous first-team pick on the postseason list.
She piled up a total of 23 kills and 15 blocks over the three matches in the postseason.
McGhee will graduate from Baylor with her degree in communication on Saturday.