LEXINGTON, Ky. – Southeastern's Cicily Hidalgo and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Kyndal Payne earned honorable mention accolades from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region Awards, announced on Wednesday.

Hidalgo, a senior from Opelousas, La., added the AVCA's All-Central Region Honorable Mention honor to the list of awards she received for her play during the 2024 season, which included being named the Southland Conference's Player of the Year and an All-Conference First Team selection.
 
She averaged 4.32 points per set on the season, scoring 3.64 kills per set on a .261 attack percentage as well as 37 service aces on the year. Her score line included 66 total blocks on the season, 12 solo, while also contributing 3.14 digs per set.
 
Hidalgo finished her SLU career with 1,446 career kills, the second-most in program history, becoming just the second Lady Lion ever to cross 1,400 career kills. She also scored 1,646.0 career points while in the green and gold, also the second-most ever by a Lady Lion.

Payne earns her third accolade, also being named to the honorable mention list in 2022 and 2023. She is the second student-athlete in program history to be a three-time All-Region honoree after Carissa Barnes repeated 2020-22.

Payne finished this season as a top all-around performer. She was second in the SLC but led all true outside hitters in kills (232) and kills/set (4.14), ranked third in points/set (4.64), and led all outside hitters in hitting percentage with a .303 in league play. She was a huge part of an offense that led the conference in hitting percentage and was second in kills during the SLC slate. She also averaged 3.36 digs/set in conference play and was the best passer across league according to VolleyMetrics, ranking first both with a 2.36 passing average (3pt scale) and with a 63.5 good pass percentage.
 
She then helped the Islanders punch their ticket back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since her freshman season (2021). She was named to the SLC All-Tournament Team after spearheading the team to the championship.
 
Payne concluded her career on the biggest stage as the Islanders took on No. 3 Texas in the NCAA First Round. She finishes her time with the Islanders ranked first in program history in career kills (1,658) and total attacks (4,209), second in kills per set (3.80) and solo blocks (96), sixth in digs (1,132) and eighth in total blocks (192).