Lanier and Abercrombie Earn AVCA All-America Laurels

LEXINGTON, Ky. – USC women's volleyball sophomore outside hitter Khalia Lanier (Scottsdale, Ariz./Xavier College Prep) and senior opposite hitter Brittany Abercrombie (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS) were each named to the 2017 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Teams on Wednesday, Dec. 13. Both are first-time selections for the national honor.

Lanier was named to the first team, and receives the program's 47th all-time first-team certificate (including non-AVCA All-Americans). She and Abercrombie--a third-team selection--are the 40th and 41st USC women's volleyball All-Americans and bring home the program's 74th and 75th All-America certificates. Lanier's is USC's first first-team selection since three-time All-American outside hitter Samantha Bricio was chosen to the first team and was named the National Player of the Year in 2015.

Both Women of Troy were named to the AVCA's Pacific South all-region team last week and are also two-time selections to the Pac-12 All-Conference team.

Lanier was named the AVCA National Player of the Week on Nov. 14 and was chosen as the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week three times this season (Aug. 28, Nov. 13, and Nov. 27). She was named a member of the Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference Team, was also a member of each of USC's pre-conference all-tournament teams and earned MVP honors at the USC/LMU Tournament. Lanier ranks in the Pac-12's top 10 for kills (4.29 kps) and points (4.86 pps) and finished the season with five consecutive 20-kill matches. She was chosen to the NCAA Gainesville Regional All-Tournament Team and became the first USC player in program history to score 1,000 kills in her freshman and sophomore seasons combined. Lanier reached 1,002 kills at season's end to become the 17th player to cross the 1,000-kill mark.

Abercrombie was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week twice this fall (Sept. 25 and Oct. 2) and was chosen as the espnW National Player of the Week on Oct. 3. Abercrombie set new single-match career marks for kills (19), attacks (56), blocks (9), and points (20.0) this season. She became the 16th USC player to reach 1,000 career kills mark and completed her career with 1,037 kills, 1,194.0 points, and 268 blocks. Abercrombie was a Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention and becomes the third USC All-American from La Costa Canyon HS (OPP Katie Fuller, 2012; Libero Natalie Hagglund, 2011-13).

The Women of Troy (25-10) received the 10th seed and appeared in the program's 27th consecutive NCAA championship tournament (35th all-time). The Trojans defeated Central Arkansas in the first round and upended No. 9-ranked San Diego in the second round to advance to the Gainesville Regional Championship hosted by No. 2-seed Florida. There, USC took down seventh-seeded Minnesota in a three-set sweep to advance to the team's sixth NCAA regional title match in eight years. 17th-year head coach Mick Haley guided the Women of Troy to a second-place finish in the Pac-12 (14-6) after being selected to finish sixth in the coaches' preseason poll and led the Trojans to 10 wins over ranked opponents, and the team's 11th 25-plus win season under his leadership.

For more information on the USC women's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Periscope, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.

Players Mentioned

Brittany Abercrombie

Khalia Lanier