Eleven Big 12 student-athletes were named to the 42^nd annual American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Division I Women’s All-America Teams. The 11 selections are the most for the league since 2018 when 13 league players were awarded. The Big 12 has had 245 All-Americans since the league’s inception in 1996.

Texas’ Asjia O’Neal and Madisen Skinner were selected to the first team while Houston’s Kenna Sauer, Kansas’ Reagan Cooper and TCU’s Melanie Parra were announced as third team honorees. BYU’s Whitney Bower and Erin Livingston, Houston’s Kate Georgiades, Iowa State’s Nayeli Gonzalez, Kansas’ Camryn Turner and K-State’s Aliyah Carter were listed as honorable mentions.

The Longhorns were one of four teams with multiple first team players while TCU’s Parra is the Horned Frogs’ first-ever player to be named to one of the three AVCA All-America teams.

O'Neal is being honored for the fourth time and the second consecutive season as a first team selection. Having the best blocking season of her career, O'Neal is tied for the national lead with 1.62 blocks per set and has a career-best 157 total blocks. She also has a .392 hitting percentage and 184 kills this season. O'Neal was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week four times this season.

Skinner, the 2023 Big 12 Player of the Year, is recognized as a first team All-American for the first time in her career after landing on the third team last season and earning honorable mention honors in 2020 and 2021. Skinner ranks sixth nationally in both kills per set (4.79) and points per set (5.50) this season to lead the Longhorns offensively. Skinner was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week twice this season.

Sauer's third team honor is Houston's third-ever to either the first, second or third team, joining Lucy Charuk's Third Team selection in 2011 and Lilly Denoon-Chester's Second Team honor in 1995. In Big 12 play, she finished eighth with 3.82 kills per set and 4.39 points per set, leading Houston in both categories as well. Her 0.34 service aces per set also sat at sixth in the league.

Cooper led the Jayhawks with 3.86 kills and 4.17 points per set while hitting an impressive .346 on the year. Cooper tied the program record for most kills in a single match when she knocked down 29 against Penn State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, marking the fifth time she surpassed 20-plus kills in a match this season.

Parra ranked 12th in the NCAA in points per set (5.17) and 17th with 4.38 kills per set. No stranger to AVCA recognition, Parra earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors (Sept. 19) after recording 34 kills in TCU's 3-1 win over Florida State. Her 34 kills broke the four-set school record and are also the second-most kills in a single match in program history. 

The 2023 All-America selections were made by the AVCA Division I All-America Committee: Erin Lindsey, Santa Clara (chair); Marci Byers, Virginia Tech; Betsy Freeburg, UAB; Katelyn Harrison, Belmont; Branden Higa, Cal Baptist; Christy Johnson-Lynch, Iowa State; Kim Lambert, Delaware; Eve Rackham, Tennessee; Caitlin Schweihofer, Rutgers; Matt Ulmer, Oregon; and JT Wenger, UT Arlington.

A full list of Big 12 National honors can be found here.

2023 AVCA Division I Women’s All-America Teams (Big 12 players listed)
First Team
Asjia O’Neal, Texas, MB, Sr.
Madisen Skinner, Texas OH, Jr.
Third Team
Kenna Sauer, Houston, OH, Gr.
Reagan Cooper, Kansas, OH, Gr.
Melanie Parra, TCU, OH, Jr.
Honorable Mention
Whitney Bower, BYU, S, Sr.
Erin Livingston, BYU, OH, Sr.
Kate Georgiades, Houston, L, Sr.
Nayeli Gonzalez, Iowa State, OH, Fr.
Camryn Turner, Kansas, S, Jr.
Aliyah Carter, K-State, OH, Sr.