Walker and Faulkner earn regional honors

BELLEVUE, Neb. - A pair of Bellevue University student-athletes have earned All-West Central Honors. Junior setter Beth Walker (Dubuque, Iowa) has been named to the all-region first team and junior middle blocker Symone Faulkner (Denver, Col.) has earned honorable mention recognition.

Walker was previously honored as the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year, a first team all-MCAC selection, MCAC Scholar-Athlete, and six-time MCAC Setter of the Week.

Walker, named an All-American a season ago, recorded 21 double-doubles this season and averaged 9.82 assists per set which easily ranked first within the conference and fourth nationally among players who have appeared in at least 150 sets. Her 1,512 assists ranked 10^th across the NAIA. In addition to being named first team all-region and MCAC Player of the Year, Walker was also recognized as an All-MCAC First Team selection for the second straight year after earning Honorable Mention accolades as a freshman in 2012.

Faulkner was recognized as an all-MCAC first team choice and was twice named the MCAC Hitter of the Week.

Faulkner totaled 436 kills which was good for 28^th nationally and better than 30 more than the closest in the conference (Abby Buehler of Waldorf). Faulkner was honored on the all-MCAC First Team for the third consecutive season. Her hitting percentage for the year of .326 is tops on the team as well as among the conference and 24^th nationally. She also scored a team-leading 131 total blocks on the year, which ranked 31^st in the NAIA.

Those student-athletes named as first team all-Region are eligible for AVCA All-America honors. Bellevue has had at least one player named an All-American every year since 2004 and Walker has a chance to extend that streak to 11 straight seasons.

Bellevue wrapped up their season with a record of 22-20 (6-2 MCAC) and lost to College of the Ozarks in the MCAC Tournament, where the Bruins were the fourth seed in the field of eight.