BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - The Ohio Valley Conference announced its Beach Volleyball end-of-season award winners and All-Conference teams on Wednesday morning as Chattanooga was all over the list of honorees. In total, the Sandy Mocs won three awards and had all 10 starters earn All-Conference distinction. It's the second year in a row that UTC landed 10 players on the All-OVC list. The Sandy Mocs are the only school in OVC history to do it. 

Chattanooga's award winners were McKenna Faychak as Player of the Year and Pair of the Year alongside senior teammate Maddie Lecik. Additionally, for the fourth time, and the third straight year, Chattanooga earned Coaching Staff of the Year.

Faychak and Lecik have stood out amongst the best the OVC has to offer, holding an 8-1 record in the No. 1 slot against conference opposition, and winning Pair of the Week honors three times. For the season, the duo holds a 19-5 record. As a pair they have won 58 matches in their career, which is 18 more than any other duo in program history. The pair also earned All-OVC First Team honors. Both Faychak and Lecik have earned All-Conference distinction in each of their four seasons in the Blue and Gold. 

Head Coach Darin Van Horn, Assistant Coach Juliana Horn, and Graduate Assistant Coach Paige Gallentine earned Coaching Staff of the Year honors after leading UTC to its third consecutive OVC Regular Season Title. The Sandy Mocs went 10-0 in league play, outscoring opponents 42-3 in those 10 matches. Overall for the regular season, the Van Horn's and Gallentine led UTC to a 21-4 overall record, which included a 14-match winnings streak. briefly holding the longest active streak in the country. 

Corina Vale (19-6) and Julia Lawrence (18-6) have been an elite duo for the Sandy Mocs this year in the No. 2 slot and were among the other UTC players to earn First Team recognition. In conference play, Vale and Lawrence finished the regular season unbeaten with a perfect 10-0 OVC record. Most recently, the duo was named OVC Pair of the Week after a 4-0 showing at the OVC Weekend at Morehead State. Vale has now been named All-Conference three times while this is the second time that Lawrence has earned the distinction. 

Chattanooga's No. 3 duo of Ansley Gulledge (First Team) and Sydney Jackwin (Second Team) also earned All-Conference recognition. The pair had a strong season, holding a 19-5 record and a 7-2 mark in OVC matches. The duo ended the season on a seven-match winning streak in OVC play. It is the second year in a row that both players have been named All-OVC. Jackwin was also an All-Conference player in indoor season last fall. 

Picking up Second Team All-OVC honors was Chattanooga's No. 4 pair of Ashli McKenny and Taylor Clark. The pair has been dominant this season, leading the Mocs with 23 wins on the year to just two losses. They are just two wins away from tying the school record for most wins in a year. The pair is also unbeaten in conference play, holding a 10-0 record. Clark, in her first year in the UTC starting lineup, and McKenny in her first year in the Blue and Gold after transferring from Florida Southern, earn All-OVC distinction for the first time.

Wrapping up Chattanooga's players on the All-Conference list are Madeline McCabe (20-2) and Ava Goryl (20-4) on the Second Team after an impressive regular season in the No. 5 position. In conference play, McCabe and Goryl went a perfect 10-0 with eight of the 10 matches decided in straight sets. Both players are All-Conference for the first time in their careers. 

2026 All-OVC Beach Volleyball
 
OVC Pair of the Year: McKenna Faychak & Maddie Lecik, Chattanooga
OVC Player of the Year: McKenna Faychak, Chattanooga
OVC Freshman of the Year: Haylee DePonte, Morehead State
OVC Coaching Staff of the Year: Chattanooga
 
FIRST TEAM
McKenna Faychak, Chattanooga
Ansley Gulledge, Chattanooga
Julia Lawrence, Chattanooga
Maddie Lecik, Chattanooga
Corina Vale, Chattanooga
Gabby Belcher, Lindenwood
Susanna Beretti, Lindenwood
Nyah Wilson, Lindenwood
Kayla Bryant, UT Martin
Riley Rushing, UT Martin
 
SECOND TEAM
Taylor Clark, Chattanooga
Ava Goryl, Chattanooga
Sydney Jackwin, Chattanooga
Madeline McCabe, Chattanooga
Ashli McKenny, Chattanooga
Abby Jacobs, Lindenwood
Annalie McWhorter, Lindenwood
Aubrey Sheppard, Lindenwood
Bella Marita, Morehead State
Dylan Sulcer, UT Martin
 
ALL-FRESHMAN
Alanys Nieves, Eastern Illinois
Haylee DePonte, Morehead State
Riley McCloskey, Morehead State
Abby Freund, UT Martin

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