EAST PEORIA, Ill. – Three members of Missouri S&T's volleyball squad were named this evening to the Great Lakes Valley Conference's all-conference team for the 2022 season, as the all-league team was announced on the eve of the GLVC Tournament that will begin Thursday.

Shelby Ply (Rolla, MO/Rolla), who ranks among the conference leaders in hitting percentage and blocks, was selected to the first team and was also S&T's nominee from the volleyball team for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award.  The Miners also had a pair of second-team selections in outside hitter Jordan Burton (Olathe, KS/Olathe South) and setter Hannah Merjil (Bakersfield, CA/Garces Memorial).

Ply, a middle hitter for S&T, has recorded a .380 hitting percentage during the 2022 season with 206 kills and only 42 attack errors in 432 attempts while also leading the Miners with 102 blocks.  She is currently ranked second in the GLVC in hitting percentage and in blocks per set as she has 1.16 in 89 sets played this season.

Earlier this season, Ply became just the fifth player in GLVC history to earn the conference's player of the week awards on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball during the same season.  She landed the league's defensive award on Oct. 24, then won the offensive player of the week honor exactly a week later.  It is also the second straight year that she has landed on the All-GLVC team as she was chosen to the second team in 2021.

Entering the GLVC Tournament this weekend, Ply ranks fifth in assisted blocks in program history and her 87 this season is just three away from the top 10 in one year.  She also needs two solo blocks to reach the top 10 for a season as she has 16 on the year.

Burton leads the Miners with 283 kills on the season and has recorded a .234 hitting percentage; she has recorded the Miners' highest kill total in a game with 21 against Davenport during the Midwest Regional Crossover.  She has reached double figures in kills in 16 of S&T's 24 games this year and has done so in each of the last 10 contests.

It is the third consecutive season that Burton has been selected to the All-GLVC team, as she was also a second-team honoree in the 2021 spring season – when she was also named as the league's Freshman of the Year – and in the 2021 fall campaign.

Merjil currently ranks ninth in the GLVC with her average of 6.4 assists per set as she has recorded 567 on the year.  Merjil, who is fourth in program history with 2,235 kills coming into this weekend, posted a season-high 44 assists in a five-set win over Drury on Oct. 1 and has four games with more than 40 assists on the year.

She is also a two-time All-GLVC selection after being named to the all-conference after the 2021 spring season.

Missouri-St. Louis' Charlotte Richards was named as the GLVC's Player of the Year for the third consecutive season, while Rockhurst's Maureen Reilly was chosen as the Libero of the Year and Alice Pavan – the player ahead of Ply in hitting percentage in the GLVC – was selected as the GLVC's Freshman of the Year.  UMSL head coach Ryan Young was named as the conference's Coach of the Year for the 2022 season.

The nominees for the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award are student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior.  The nominees must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.

Missouri S&T will open play in the GLVC Tournament Thursday afternoon when it faces Lewis at 2:30 p.m. at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria.