Full WCC Release

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The Santa Clara University beach volleyball team earned five All-West Coast Conference honors on Wednesday.

The honors highlighted Elena Radeff, who earned a first-team accolade in the conference's announcement of its annual awards. Katie Kishton was also awarded a spot on the all-WCC second team, and freshmen Alexandra Urbina, Sveva Munneke, and Noelle Niederman made the 2024 all-freshman team.

In her senior year, Radeff earned her first career all-WCC first-team award. Radeff and her sole partner of the 2024 season, Kishton, also received all-conference honors, finishing the season with an impressive 17 wins exclusively at the No. 1 slot. Taking on ranked opponents, the duo found a stretch from April 2-20 where they won seven of their eight matches.

Kishton went 17-15 on the year, exclusively at the No. 1 pair with Radeff. Working to find their groove at the top spot, Kishton and Radeff were able to grab a 9-3 record in the last half of the season from April 2-26, which earned her a spot as a second-team honoree.

The Broncos finished with a trio of players highlighted as members of the All-WCC freshman team, the most in program history. Urbina, Munneke, and Niederman all made significant impacts as first-years and look to continue to grow the team.

Urbina finished her collegiate debut with an impressive 18-10 record on the season while playing with different partners at different positions. She went 3-1 at the No. 4 spot and, more significantly, had a 15-9 record at the No. 5 spot – which included a 15-7 mark with partner Alexie Epstein. This specific partnership went on to take two wins over nationally ranked opponents: No. 19 Arizona (21-19, 21-19) and No. 13 FIU (21-18, 23-21) and earned a WCC Pair of the Week after proving to be a clutch force helping the Broncos take wins over USF, ULM, and Sacramento State (April 2-5).

Niederman was the second standout freshman, put to the test at the top of the lineup position. Playing a majority of the matches at the No. 2 spot, she also played 11 at the threes with partners Ella Duffner, Hailey Benesz, and Munneke. She finished the season with an overall record of 7-25, finding five wins at the two slot and finished the season with freshman partner Munneke.

Munneke was the last Bronco to garner conference recognition, as she played in every spot across the lineup except the No. 1 spot. She found the most success at the fours, going 4-6 there with senior Jordan Bennett. Here, they recorded a win against No. 18 Stetson (21-19, 19-21, 16-14) on March 9. As she finished the season at the No. 2 spot with Niederman, going 2-8, she proved to be a competitive force ready for collegiate competition.

LMU won its fifth straight WCC Championship last Friday as they stayed top in the national polls. They nearly swept the 2024 WCC all-conference and major awards and shared with Pepperdine for a league-best six student-athletes on 18 available spots between first and second teams. They both had four first-team selections and two second-team selections. All-WCC First, Second, and Freshman Team selections and major individual awards were selected by the seven conference head coaches. Due to a tie among voting for the second team, there are nine student-athletes on this year's all-conference second team.

LMU's Michelle Shaffer had her name called twice for the conference awards as both a member of the Pair of the Year with Valma Prihti and the Defensive Player of the Year. Prihti became the first player in the history of the league to be a part of the back-to-back Pairs of the Year, and it is also the fourth year in a row that LMU has won that title. John Mayer earned his fifth straight WCC Coach of the Year honors, and Kaydon Meyers of Pepperdine took Freshman of the Year honors.