FAIRBANKS - Alaska's Karli Nielson grabbed another award this morning, wrapping up her illustrious career with an AVCA Division II All-American Honorable Mention. She becomes the third player in program history to earn the honor, joining Mallory Bergstrom in 2003 and Jessa Long in 2022.
The AVCA's release and full list of Division II All-Americans can be found here.
"I'm very excited for Karli to receive this well-deserved honor," said head volleyball coach Brian Scott. "Karli has trained hard to become more than just a hitter with a big arm. She has worked hard to play six rotations, improve her passing, become a great defender and increase her range and power as a hitter. She has been surrounded by great teammates that have supported and tested her abilities, helping to refine her. A huge congratulations to Karli and all the work she has put in to receive this recognition."
Nielson earns the honor after helping lead Alaska to its best-ever season, finishing with a 21-7 record while going 13-5 in conference. She ended the season at the top of the GNAC leaderboards in kills, slamming 372 on the season which ranked 67th in Division II. Her .259 hitting percentage was the best of her career and put her eighth in the GNAC, while her 3.48 kills per set average ranked second. She posted career-highs in assists (25), digs (259) and total blocks (50).
Nielson had three games where she cracked the 20-kill mark, recording a career-high 23 at Western Oregon (Oct. 26), 21 at Azusa Pacific (Sept. 7) and 20 at Saint Martin's (Oct. 24). She reached at least 10 kills in 20 of Alaska's 28 matches while registering eight double-doubles. The outside hitter logged nine matches in which she tallied double-digit digs, including posting a career-high 20 in a win at Western Washington.
The South Weber, Utah native earned GNAC Offensive Player of the Week twice this season, with the first coming Sept. 9 after she helped the 'Nooks to a 4-0 record in Alaska's matches in California. She would notch a GNAC-leading 64 kills across the four contests vs. Cal State Dominguez Hills, Concordia Irvine, Colorado Christian and Azusa Pacific. She collected her second award following five-set victories over Saint Martin's and Western Oregon, which saw her slam 43 kills over the two matches.
Nielson was a unanimous selection to the All-GNAC First Team and garnered AVCA All-West Region accolades.
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