SEARCY, Ark. — Harding head volleyball coach Meredith Fear was named Great American Conference Coach of the Year, leading a haul of postseason honors for the Lady Bisons that included three All-GAC selections and two GAC Elite Scholar Student-Athlete recognitions announced by the league office.

Fear earned Coach of the Year honors (fourth in her career) after guiding the Lady Bisons to a 23-4 overall record and a 13-3 mark in conference play, finishing second in the GAC standings. Harding enters postseason play on a nine-match winning streak, having gone an unblemished 10-0 on their home floor at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House. Under Fear's guidance, the Lady Bisons led the conference in kills per set (13.96), assists per set (12.83), opponent hitting percentage (.142), and opponent kills allowed per set (10.44). Harding will face No. 7 seeded Southern Nazarene Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., in Enid, Oklahoma.

Senior setter Olivia Wiedower earned First Team All-GAC honors, while freshman right-side hitter Melaina Haines and junior middle blocker Philomina Klotz each received Second Team All-GAC accolades. In the classroom, junior Haylie Huggins and senior Avery Stanfill were named GAC Elite Scholar Student-Athletes, presented by Conway Regional Health System.

Wiedower, a senior from Conway, Arkansas, directed Harding's league-leading offense from the setter position. It is her third All-GAC honor. She led the entire conference with 10.52 assists per set and 1,052 total assists, eclipsing 4,000 career assists during the season. Wiedower also contributed 284 digs (2.84 per set), 47 kills, 33 service aces, and 21 blocks while posting a .923 serve percentage. Her season high of 62 assists came in a five-set match against Henderson State on Sept. 17.

Haines, a freshman from Jackson, Missouri, stepped into an immediate offensive role on the outside to collect second-team honors. She paced the Lady Bisons and ranked seventh in the GAC with 309 kills (3.29 per set) while recording 367.0 total points (3.90 per set, fourth in the GAC). Haines also ranked third in the conference with 36 service aces (0.38 per set) and added 240 digs (2.55 per set) and 40 total blocks.

Klotz, a junior middle blocker from Ponder, Texas, collected second-team honors following an efficient campaign at the net. It is her first All-GAC honor. Klotz led the GAC in hitting percentage with a .398 mark, committing just 40 errors on 570 attacks while collecting 267 kills (2.75 per set). Defensively, Klotz anchored Harding's net presence with a team-high 71 total blocks (21 solo, 50 assists), averaging 0.73 blocks per set.

Huggins and Stanfill were among a select group across the conference recognized as GAC Elite Scholar Student-Athletes for holding an unblemished 4.0 grade-point average. Harding placed 10 student-athletes on the GAC Academic Honor Roll: Josie Bishop, Maddie Burrough, Lauren Demuth, Ella Drake, Payton Hilmer, Huggins, Klotz, Stanfill, Mallory Weyand, and Wiedower.