Serena Gray

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Photo by: Pitt Athletics

COLUMBUS, OH - DECEMBER 15: The Pittsburgh Panthers pose during the Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship on December 15, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Photo by: NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Height:
6-2
Class:
Senior
High School:
Temple City HS
Hometown:
Temple City, Calif.
Prev School:
Penn State

Career Highlights (2018-20 at Penn State | 2021-22 at Pitt)
AVCA 1st Team All-American (2022)
VolleyballMag.com All-America 4th Team (2022)
CoSIDA Academic All-America® 2nd Team (2022)
AVCA East Coast All-Region Team (2022)
ACC Player of the Week (9/26/2022)
2x ACC Volleyball Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2021 & 2022)
3x AVCA All-America Honorable Mention (2018, 2019, 2021)
VolleyballMag.com All-America Honorable Mention (2021)
CoSIDA Academic All-America® First Team (2021)
AVCA East Coast All-Region Team (2021)
All-ACC First Team (2021, 2022)
NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team (Pittsburgh) (2021)
Preseason All-ACC (2021, 2022)
2x All-ACC Academic Team (2021 & 2022)
2x AVCA All-Northeast Region Honorable Mention (2018, 2019)
NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team (Stanford) (2019)
Academic All-Big Ten (2019)
Big Ten Freshman of the Week (2018)

AS A GRADUATE SENIOR (2022)
Member of Pitt’s NCAA Final Four team, the second consecutive National Semifinal appearance…won her first ACC Championship, helping the Panthers to a 17-1 conference record and the most wins in a single season since 1990 (31-4)…1st Team AVCA All-American…2nd Team Academic All-American…1st Team All-ACC…4th Team volleymag.com All-American… joins Kayla Lund as the only Panthers to ever earn Academic All-American, AVCA All-American and All-Conference in the same season…played in 34 matches, starting all 34 at middle blocker…led the team with 131 total blocks…became just the seventh Panther in the modern scoring era to record 20 solo blocks in a single season…third on the team in kills (248) doing so on .396 hitting, the 18th highest in Division I, becoming one of just four players in the nation to post back-to-back Top 20 hitting percentages…her .396 hitting is the seventh most efficient season in program history…the only player in the ACC to achieve a hitting percentage over .400 in conference play while also making over 130 kills…Named ACC Player of the Week after making 24 kills on .600 hitting while also averaging 1.00 block/set in a dominant display to begin the conference season against North Carolina (9/23) and NC State (9/25)…set a season best with 15 kills in Pitt’s five-set win over No. 2 Louisville (10/23) helping secure the Panthers’ first victory over a Top 2 ranked opponent…set a season and Pitt career high with .800 hitting in Pitt’s sweep over Virginia Tech (10/30)..set a career high with nine blocks vs. Hawai’i (8/27) in the second match of the season…led the team with seven aces in the NCAA Tournament, securing multiple aces in three matches…she was the only middle blocker in the tournament with more than five aces, marking her second consecutive postseason to lead all middle blockers in service aces.

AS A SENIOR (2021)
Part of Pitt’s first NCAA Final Four appearance by a women’s team in school history … Helped Pitt reach its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, marking the program’s longest NCAA postseason streak in history … Selected as ACC Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Volleyball … Earned a spot on the All-ACC Academic Team … Named an All-America Honorable Mention by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and VolleyballMag.com … Second in program history to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-America® First Team member, and the first to earn the recognition since 2009 … AVCA East Coast All-Region honors … All-ACC First Team … NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team (Pittsburgh) … Preseason All-ACC selection … Posted the most solo blocks by a Panther in an NCAA Tournament match during the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present) with three against Purdue in the Regional Final (Dec. 11) … Led Pitt, ranked second in the ACC and No. 10 in the NCAA with a season hitting percentage of .417 … Led Pitt and ranked second in the ACC with 43 total service aces on the season … Led Pitt and ranked fifth in the ACC with 132 total blocks … Led Pitt with 0.34 service aces per set … Second on the team with 1.06 blocks per set … Started all 34 matches for Pitt and appeared in all but one set for the Panthers … Fourth on the team with 2.14 kills per set … Posted a career-high 19 kills at Notre Dame (Oct. 22) while hitting .607 for the match … Recorded a career-best nine blocks at Tennessee (Sept. 5), which marked a single-match high by a Panther for the 2021 season … Tied a career high with four service aces against Syracuse (Nov. 5) … Picked up a career-high seven digs against No. 23 Rice (Aug. 27) … Hit a season-best .629 twice, against Virginia (Sept. 29) and American (Nov. 9), with nine kills on 13 swings and no errors in either match … Recorded five matches with 10 or more kills, including back-to-back performances against Purdue (14 kills) and Nebraska (11 kills) in the NCAA Tournament … Hit .500 or better (with at least 10 attempts) in 13 matches.

AT PENN STATE (2018-20)

AS A JUNIOR (2020)
Started all but one match for the Nittany Lions, contributing 2.09 kills and 0.79 blocks per set … Posted a season-best 13 kills in back-to-back matches, versus Ohio State (Feb. 17) and Indiana (Feb. 19) … Recorded double-figure kills four times … Hit .400 or better at five matches … Had a season-best four blocks at 10 matches … Second on the team with a .287 hitting percentage … Third for PSU with 0.79 blocks per set … Fourth on the team with 2.80 points per set.

AS A SOPHOMORE (2019)
Awards: Named an honorable-mention All-American and honorable-mention All-Northeast Region…Voted to Stanford Regional All-Tournament Team…Earned a spot on the Academic All-Big Ten Team…Named the MVP of the Penn State Classic.

Season: Started all 33 matches and played in all 117 sets at middle blocker…Was second on the team in kills (317), kills/set (2.71), aces (34), blocks (92) and blocks/set (0.79)…Recorded double-digit kills in 14 matches…Hit over .700 in three of those matches, over .500 in five those matches and over .300 in 12 of those matches…Had a season-high 18 kills on .708 hitting in a three-set win over Wichita State…Hit .636 with 21 kills and no errors in two matches at the Stanford Regional of the NCAA Tournament…Had five or more blocks five times, including a season-high seven twice.

Holy Cross (8/31): Hit .765 with 13 kills and two blocks in a three-set win. Wichita State (8/31): Hit .765 with a season-high 18 kills in a three-set win. at Iowa State (9/6): Hit .500 with nine kills. vs. LSU (9/7): Hit .667 with six kills and three blocks. Stanford (9/13): Hit .368 with 10 kills and two blocks. Pitt (9/20): Hit .438 with eight kills and four blocks. at Pitt (9/22): Totaled 10 kills, six blocks and two aces. Michigan State (9/25): Hit .333 with six kills and four blocks. Rutgers (9/28): Hit .583 with eight kills, two blocks and one ace. Iowa (10/5): Hit .500 with nine kills, three blocks and two aces. Maryland (10/11): Tallied 13 kills and four blocks. Ohio State (10/12): Hit .368 with nine kills, five blocks and one ace. at Michigan State (10/20): Hit .389 with nine kills, two blocks and one ace. Illinois (10/23): Finished with 17 kills on .378 hitting and added three blocks and five digs. at Nebraska (11/2): Posted a season-high seven blocks and added seven kills. Indiana (11/8): Hit .500 with 10 kills and two aces. at Rutgers (11/24): Hit .313 with seven kills, three aces and one block. Wisconsin (11/29): Hit .333 with 13 kills and five blocks. Minnesota (11/30): Hit .435 with 13 kills and three blocks. Princeton (12/6): Hit .450 with 11 kills, two blocks and one ace in the NCAA First Round. Towson (12/7): Matched a season high with seven blocks in the NCAA Second Round. vs. Cincinnati (12/13): Hit .700 with 14 kills, four blocks and three aces in the NCAA Regional Semifinal. at Stanford (12/14): Hit .538 with seven kills and two aces in the NCAA Regional Final.

AS A FRESHMAN (2018)
Awards: Named an honorable-mention All-American and honorable-mention All-Northeast Region honoree…Selected to the American Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team…Earned one Big Ten Freshman of the Week award (11/26).

Season: Played in 95 sets over 30 matches before having her season cut short due to injury…Finished with 171 kills, 119 blocks (1.24/set) and 13 aces while hitting .325…Had three matches with double-digit kills, including a season-high 12 against Wisconsin (11/24)…Tallied five-plus blocks in a match 14 times, including a season-high seven in a three-set win over Texas A&M (9/1).

Eastern Kentucky (8/24): Made collegiate debut and tallied three blocks. UMBC (8/25): Hit .545 with seven kills. Temple (8/31): Totaled six blocks and hit .333 with five kills. Texas A&M (9/1): Tallied a season-high seven blocks and hit .600 with six kills. vs. Oregon (9/8): Finished with six blocks and hit .333 with six kills. vs. Buffalo (9/14): Hit .667 with 11 kills and three blocks. at Howard (9/14): Posted six kills. at American (9/15): Totaled 10 kills on .300 hitting and added six blocks. at Minnesota (9/19): Contributed four blocks and four kills. at Ohio State (9/23): Tallied six blocks. at Michigan State (9/28): Finished with six blocks and hit .500 with five kills. at Michigan (9/30): Hit .571 with nine kills and had six blocks for the second-straight match. at Purdue (10/10): Contributed four blocks and seven kills. Nebraska (10/13): Totaled six blocks and nine kills. at Rutgers (10/20): Hit .333 with six kills. Indiana (10/26): Registered four blocks. Purdue (10/27): Totaled seven kills and five blocks. at Iowa (11/3): Hit .300 with eight kills and five blocks. at Illinois (11/10): Hit .500 with eight kills and five blocks. Northwestern (11/17): Hit .889 with eight kills on nine attacks and added three blocks. Minnesota (11/23): Hit .318 with nine kills and five blocks. Wisconsin (11/24): Hit .647 with a season-high 12 kills and added six blocks.

HIGH SCHOOL
Was the No. 5 ranked 2018 PrepVolleyball.com Senior Ace…Was a member of the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Youth National Training Team…Was the runner-up with club SG Elite for Girls’ Junior National Championship in 15 Open, and finished in third place in 2017 for the 17 Open age group…Named the TCHS Varsity Defender of the Year and Rio Hondo League 2014 Second Team All-League as a freshman…Did not play her sophomore season…Named the TCHS MVP in her junior and senior seasons and was Rio Hondo League 2016 and 2017 First Team All-League.

PERSONAL
Born Serena Nicole Gray on January 21, 2000, in Glendale, California…Parents are Terence and Kristen Gray…Has one older sibling, Cameron.