RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference unveiled its annual all-conference honors and superlative awards for volleyball on Wednesday evening at an awards banquet on the eve of the start of the conference tournament. In that unveiling, Erika Hernandez, Henley Hooks and Savannah Meyer garnered All-GAC recognition.
 
Headlined among the Arkansas Tech contingent was true freshman Hernandez as she was named as the GAC Newcomer of the Year as well as being selected Second Team All-GAC. This was the first year in which the GAC Newcomer of the Year award was open to both first-year transfers and freshmen. With that, Hernandez is the fourth Golden Sun player to win the award and the first since 2015.
 
Also on the second team with Hernandez was Meyer while Hooks was tabbed a First Team All-GAC honoree.
 
For Meyer, this is her second All-GAC honor as she was an Honorable Mention selection last year. For Hooks and Hernandez, this is their first postseason conference honor.
 
A native of Wylie, Texas, Hernandez burst onto the scene for the Golden Suns and quickly established herself as one of the top offensive threats in the middle. In her freshman season, Hernandez had 221 kills and committed just 42 errors on 475 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .377. Her hitting percentage ranked first in the GAC this season.
 
 
Both Hooks and Meyer continued to improve this season and were featured threats for the Golden Suns' offense, routinely going back and forth for the team-lead in total kills. Through the regular season, Hooks surpassed Meyer and sits at 285 while Meyer is not far back with 277.
 
The junior duo rank in the top-10 in the GAC in total kills (Hooks – 7^th; Meyer – 9^th), kills/set (Hooks – 4^th; Meyer – 7^th), total points (Meyer – 8^th; Hooks – 9^th) and points/set (Meyer – 7^th; Hooks – 9^th).
 

The Golden Suns also had 10 players receive academic awards with two, Millie Allgood and Emma Kiser, being named a GAC Elite Scholar for an unblemished 4.0 GPA and at least 70 hours completed. Eight other players earned GAC Academic Honor Roll plaudits. Both academic honors are presented by: Conway Regional Health System.
 
 
The list of Golden Suns earning GAC Academic Honor Roll recognition were: Karlly Dillard, Kenzie Garrett, Henley Hooks, Aspen Jankowski, Savannah Meyer, Carson Thiebaud, Kariela Torres and Erica Vogel.