LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Tennessee at Martin No. 5 pair of Kayla Carrell and Reagan McGee have been spotlighted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as Top Flight Award honorees for the 2024 campaign.
To be eligible for this award, student-athletes must play 15 matches at the same flight with the same partner and win at least 75 percent of those decisions. Carrell/McGee fit those requirements at the No. 5 slot in the lineup, going 18-4 for a dazzling .818 winning percentage.
Carrell/McGee are one of only eight national pairs who competed at No. 5 to earn this recognition, which spans across NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III and NAIA levels. Overall, just 53 total pairs were bestowed with this prestigious award for the 2024 campaign.
This marks the second time that Carrell has achieved this award as she was part of the first-ever Skyhawk duo to win the award (alongside Addison Conley in 2022). Last season, Haeleigh Paulino/Jenna Vallée became the third UT Martin representatives to claim the national honor.
This announcement marks the second set of hardware that Carrell/McGee have earned in the last eight days as the pair was additionally named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference second team on April 24. Those two joined forces for a season-best seven-match winning streak from March 14-29 and wrapped up the spring by claiming victories in five of their last six decisions (including a pair of triumphs in the OVC Championship tournament). Their 18 wins at No. 5 are a single-season record for most victories out of the No. 5 spot in the lineup, shattering the previous record of 13. These two also competed twice this season at the No. 4 position, going 1-1 to bring their combined season record to 19-5 with an unblemished 9-0 record in league play to help the Skyhawks to their unprecedented third consecutive OVC regular season championship.
A graduate out of Pensacola, Fla., Carrell is one of just four players in UT Martin beach volleyball history to be voted to an All-OVC team three times in a career. She concluded her stellar career as the school’s all-time leader with 84 individual victories while ranking second with 33 individual OVC wins (against just four losses).
McGee capped off her fantastic debut season with an OVC All-Freshman nod in addition to her spot on the league’s second team. The freshman from Norfolk, Va. notched 20 total wins during the 2024 campaign as her 18 victories out of the No. 5 slot rank third all-time in school history.
