Ancilla Volleyball Honors
The Ancilla Lady Chargers capped off their history making season with several team member receiving post season honors.
Freshman, Darrian Mowery, from Elkhart, made Ancilla Lady Charger Program History being named All-Region, All-MCCAA and Freshman of the Year. These honors marked the first time in program history that any Ancilla volleyball player has been named All-Region and/or Freshman of the Year. On top of those honors, Mowery was also named to First Team All-Western Conference and named to the All-Freshman Team.
Mowery who remained in the top 5 in the country in hitting percentage most of the season had an outstanding year. Mowery commented, “Almost a year ago I didn’t think I would be playing volleyball again and now look where I am. I am thankful to have the opportunity to play at Ancilla this year. This has been an amazing year with an amazing team and I feel very blessed to receive all the recognitions from the conference. I have worked hard this year and it has paid off. I want to thank everyone who has had a part in my success this year, especially Coach Singleton and my mom and dad. If it wasn’t for them I don’t think I would have pulled it out this year.”
Alongside Mowery, fellow teammate Samantha Brenneman was recognized by the other conference coaches and was honored with Second Team All-Western Conference. Jill Brown, Maddie Price, and Autumn Taylor were also honored for making Honorable Mention All-Western Conference.
Head Coach, Lana Singleton, was also honored as Coach of the Year. In Singleton’s tenure she has guided the Lady Chargers to four Region XII appearance in the last five years, this year advancing the farthest ever in program history. Coach Singleton has also posted three twenty plus win seasons in the last five campaigns. The record this season was 23-9. Coach Singleton also surpassed her 100 college win mark early in the season and that record now stands at 118 college wins.
The Ancilla College Volleyball Program is successful not only on the court. Since taking over the helm in 2009, Coach Singleton has had sixteen Lady Chargers to go on and play volleyball at the next level. The program, in her tenure, has graduated a “Scholar of Distinction,” and has graduated five “Outstanding Female Scholar Athlete” recipients. It has placed six players on the MCCAA All-Freshman Teams, four players on 2nd Team All-Conference, two 3rd Team All-Conference members and sixteen Honorable Mention All-Conference Honorees and now an All-Region, All-MCCAA, First Team All-Western Conference, and Freshman Player of the Year in Darrian Mowery.
Academically the Lady Chargers have had twenty-five Academic All-Conference team members, and twenty two Academic All-MCCAA honorees. Two of Singleton’s past players were selected to the Capital One Academic All-District Team. In the last seven years the program has graduated nine young ladies who received the highest NJCAA Academic Awards; three have received the NJCAA Award for Superior Academic Excellence and six have received the NJCAA Award for Exemplary Academic Achievement. The Women’s Volleyball program was a 3-peat win of the Ancilla College President’s Cup for Highest Athletic GPA on campus from 2010-2013 and again was President’s Cup Winner during the 2014-2015 school year. The past five years (2011-2016), the Lady Charger Volleyball team has achieved the honors of MCCAA All-Academic Team and NJCAA All-Academic Team proving not only is the Ancilla Volleyball Team getting it done on the court, but also more importantly, achieving academic success as well.
Ancilla College (www.ancilla.edu), part of The Center at Donaldson, offers 21 associate degrees and 20 athletic programs. Since 1937, the college has been a sponsored ministry of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. It is a small, private, liberal arts school located two miles south of U.S. 30 on Union Road near Plymouth, Indiana.
