Following a superb senior season, Penn State volleyball’s Aaron Russell was named a first team All-American by the America Volleyball Coaches Association for the second time in his Nittany Lion career.

Russell is an offensive force, recording double-digit kills in all but two matches. He’s second in the nation in aces per set (.57), while his 60 aces on the season lead the nation. Russell joins nine other student-athletes on the first team, and is the seventh Nittany Lion volleyball player to be named to the first team more than once.

Russell won the Uvaldo Acosta Memorial EIVA Player of the Year award for the third year in a row, one of only two Penn Staters to do so. With 71 aces last year to accompany his 60 this season, he’s now second in program history.

It’s been a strange year for Penn State men’s volleyball. Following a shaky start, it plowed through the EIVA conference to the tune of a 12-0 record. The fifth-seeded Lions now will take on No. 4 Hawaii in a play-in match to the NCAA tournament on Tuesday.

Congrats and well deserved, Aaron.

Photo: Mark Selders/GoPSUSports