{"id":381811,"date":"2026-08-26T17:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381811\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T17:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:54:11","slug":"yount-sweep-highlights-preseason-asun-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381811\/","title":{"rendered":"Yount Sweep Highlights Preseason ASUN Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                &#13;<br \/>\n                    Story Links&#13;<br \/>\n                    &#13;<br \/>\n                    &#13;<\/p>\n<p>                 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. &#8212; Jacksonville junior <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-volleyball\/roster\/haley-yount\/7020\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7020\" target=\"_blank\">Haley Yount<\/a> was named the Atlantic Sun&#8217;s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year ahead of the 2026 season, the league announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Yount and senior <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-volleyball\/roster\/claire-mrukowski\/6673\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6673\" target=\"_blank\">Claire Mrukowski<\/a> were also named to the preseason All-ASUN team.<\/p>\n<p>Yount is the first player in ASUN history to sweep preseason Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors. She is also the first Dolphin in program history to win Preseason Player of the Year or Defensive Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the St. Louis, Missouri, native had a breakout season in the middle for JU. She ranked in the top three nationally for hitting percentage, hitting .454 &#8212; the second-best hitting percentage in program history.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to her offensive efficiency, Yount was the best blocker in the league last season. She led the conference with 1.13 blocks per set.<\/p>\n<p>She racked up the awards as a sophomore, earning All-ASUN First Team honors, All-Tournament Team honors and earning the first AVCA All-Region selection in Jacksonville history.<\/p>\n<p>Mrukowski is the Dolphins leading returner on the outside. She averaged 2.5 kills per set a year ago, best of any returner on the roster. She was one of the most efficient hitters in the league, ranking Top 10 with a .309 hitting percentage.<\/p>\n<p>Dolphins Picked Second In Coaches Poll<\/p>\n<p>The league&#8217;s coaches picked Jacksonville to finish second in the preseason coaches poll. The Dolphins were one of three teams to receive a first-place vote. Jacksonville finished second in the league a season ago, posting a 22-8 record with a 12-4 mark in conference play. The Dolphins reached the semifinals of the ASUN Tournament in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>Jacksonville trails only FGCU, the reigning regular season champions, in the preseason standings.<\/p>\n<p>Preseason ASUN Awards<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nPlayer of the Year: <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-volleyball\/roster\/haley-yount\/7020\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7020\" target=\"_blank\">Haley Yount<\/a>, Jacksonville<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nDefensive Player of the Year: <a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-volleyball\/roster\/haley-yount\/7020\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7020\" target=\"_blank\">Haley Yount<\/a>, Jacksonville<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nSetter of the Year: Sofia Dawson, North Florida<\/p>\n<p>All-ASUN Team:<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-volleyball\/roster\/haley-yount\/7020\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"7020\" target=\"_blank\">Haley Yount<\/a>, Jacksonville<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/judolphins.com\/sports\/womens-volleyball\/roster\/claire-mrukowski\/6673\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"6673\" target=\"_blank\">Claire Mrukowski<\/a>, Jacksonville<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nPayton Parsons, Bellarmine<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nJulija Grubisic Cabo, FGCU<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nKendall Newbold, North Florida<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nElizabeth Layson, Queens<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nZuzanna Bury, Stetson<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nVitoria Stedile, Stetson<\/p>\n<p>2026 Preseason Coaches Poll<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nPl. Team (1st Place votes) Points<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n1. FGCU (6) &#8211; 62<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n2. Jacksonville (1) &#8211; 54<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n3. Lipscomb &#8211; 46<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n4. North Florida &#8211; 39<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n5. Queens (1) &#8211; 38<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n6. Stetson &#8211; 19<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n7. Bellarmine &#8211; 16<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n8. West Florida &#8211; 14<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; Story Links&#13; &#13; &#13; JACKSONVILLE, Fla. &#8212; Jacksonville junior Haley Yount was named the Atlantic Sun&#8217;s Player&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-381811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}