UC Santa Barbara junior setter Jonah Seif and senior outside hitter Kevin Donohue have both been named to the 2015 AVCA All-America Team, it was announced this week.
Seif, picking up his second career All-America award, was named to the Second Team, while first-time recipient Donohue received an Honorable Mention.
“Congratulations are in order for both Jonah and Kevin,” said UCSB head coach Rick McLaughlin. “They both had spectacular years on the court while being leaders and great teammates in the locker room. This is a nice way to finish a standout UCSB career for Donny, and its another feather in the cap for Jonah, one of the great setters in the country.”
Seif had another great season on the distribution front, averaging 10.18 assists per game, which ranked fourth in the ultra-competitive MPSF. One of the more well-rounded setters in the college game, Seif set new career bests in service aces (0.34 per game, second among MPSF setters) and digs (2.26 per game, tops among conference setters).
Overall, Seif finished the season with 967 assists, 51 kills, 32 aces, 215 digs, and 77 blocks. He really turned up his defensive play at the end of the campaign, recording double-doubles in the final five matches of the year.
Donohue had one of the most prolific seasons by a Gaucho hitter in recent memory, finishing with a career-best 3.64 kills per game average, the highest clip by a UCSB player since Jeff Menzel in 2011. He ranked at the top of the MPSF in kills average for the first half of the season, ending up with the fourth-best clip by year’s end.
He ended the campaign with a total of 331 kills, a .244 hitting percentage, 18 aces, 152 digs, and 49 blocks. His standout performances included a 20-kills in four games performance against Long Beach State on Feb. 6 and a 15-kill, 16-dig output against USC on Mar. 27.
Donohue is the fifth Gaucho to earn All-America status under McLaughlin (since 2009) while Seif becomes the first repeat All-American for UCSB since Evan Patak (2004, 2005, 2007).
