VOLLEYBALL
Two EMU men’s volleyball players earned a spot on this year’s Continental Volleyball Conference All-Academic Team.
Junior Jacob Durren (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) claimed his third consecutive All-Academic honor. Senior Joshua Gomez (Puerto Montt, Chile/German School Puerto Montt) earned a repeat spot on the team.
A total of 60 student-athletes made the CVC All-Academic Team this year. In order for a player to earn All-Academic Team honors he must carry at least a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average.
Read more: https://www.emuroyals.com/sports/mvball/2020-21/releases/20210625l91i7l
SOFTBALL
Sierra Lantz‘s (Broadway, Va./Broadway) explosive season has yielded one final award, as the EMU junior was named All-State Second Team by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID).
Lantz, who played at first base and designated player for the Eastern Mennonite softball team, was one of the best hitters in the state, batting .464 with seven home runs and 19 RBIs in just 18 games. Adding five doubles, she had a huge .929 slugging percentage to go with a .508 on-base percentage.
Lantz returned to the Royals’ roster in early April, and the missed games left her just shy of the benchmark to appear in season average categories; otherwise she would have finished No. 9 in the nation in slugging percentage, and top-3 in the ODAC in batting, on-base and slugging. Despite playing 10-15 less games than most other players, Lantz tied for the ODAC lead in homers during regular season.
She led EMU in batting, on-base, slugging, runs and RBIs, and was second in hits and doubles. She hit four homers in a three-game stretch against Lynchburg and Ferrum, and then batted 8-for-10 with three home runs and seven RBIs over the final three games of the season. Lantz also committed just one error in 75 total chances in the field.
This is the first All-State honor for Lantz. She was also named All-ODAC Second Team this spring, matching a similar honor from 2019.