Mann and Recek Named Preseason All-SEC
Friday, August 9, 2013 | Volleyball
Senior middle blocker Chloe Mann (Gainesville, Fla.) and sophomore outside hitter éiva Recek (Kočevje, Slovenia) were named to the Preseason All-SEC team, announced Friday by the Southeastern Conference. Mann is one of four athletes to repeat on the list (Billings, Henning, Kreklow) while Recek is the only non-senior receiving mention.
Seven different schools are represented on the nine-member team, which is voted on by the league's head coaches. No ties were broken. Florida and Missouri led all schools with two selections each. Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina and Texas A&M each had a student-athlete named to the team. Eight of the nine players selected were named All-SEC First or Second Team in 2012. In all, 20 different players received votes for the preseason team.
Mann had a remarkable junior campaign, topping the Gators with an NCAA-leading .444 hitting percentage, putting down 380 kills on the year. Mann led Florida with 1.15 blocks/set, good for third in the SEC. For her career, the junior middle blocker has 532 kills on a .455 hitting clip and is on track to break Florida's career hitting percentage record by the end of her senior season. This is her second selection to the Preseason All-SEC team and she was voted a First Team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and Volleyball Magazine.
Recek turned in one of the greatest freshman seasons in Florida program history, earning AVCA National Freshman of the Year honors and shattering the Florida freshman records for kills, points and attacks in a season. The Slovenia native led Florida with 440 kills on the year (4.00/set), ranking in the top five in the SEC in kills and points per set (4.45). Recek was just the second Gator to receive AVCA National Freshman of the Year, joining Florida's only four-time AVCA and Volleyball Magazine All-American Kelly Murphy. Recek was named a Third Team All-American by Volleyball Magazine as well as an AVCA Honorable Mention All-America pick.
The Gators start the season with their annual Campus USA Credit Union Invitational. Florida hosts New Orleans, LIU-Brooklyn and Duke in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Friday-Saturday, Aug. 30-31.
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| Preseason All-SEC Team | Pos. | Ht. | Cl. | Hometown |
| Camila Jersonsky, Auburn | MB | 5-11 | Sr. | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Chloe Mann, Florida | MB | 6-2 | Sr. | Gainesville, Fla. |
| éiva Recek, Florida | OH | 6-0 | So. | Kočevje, Slovenia |
| Whitney Billings, Kentucky | RS | 6-2 | Sr. | Helena, Ala. |
| Desiree Elliott, LSU | MB | 6-0 | Sr. | Cypress, Texas |
| Lisa Henning, Missouri | OH | 6-0 | Sr. | Blue Springs, Mo. |
| Molly Kreklow, Missouri | S | 6-0 | Sr. | Delano, Minn. |
| Juliette Th?venin, South Carolina | OH | 6-1 | Sr. | Mont-sur-Marchinne, Belgium |
| Allie Sawatzky, Texas A&M | S | 6-2 | Sr. | St. Andrews, Manitoba, Canada |
