Kropp Named AVP Beach Best Blocker and Team of the Year

COSTA MESA, Calif. - The AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) Pro Beach Volleyball Tour announced its year-end award winners Thursday, recognizing the top performers from the 2015 season.

Former Husker national champion Jenny Kropp was named the tour's Best Blocker, and with her partner Nicole Branagh was named the Team of the Year. 

Kropp returned to the AVP Tour at the top of her game after a two-year hiatus following the birth of twins. The most imposing player on the women’s side at the net, Kropp had 110 blocks in 84 games to record a tour-best 1.31 average. Also a noteworthy achievement, Kropp entered all seven AVP tour events in 2015, winning her way into four finals and earning her first career AVP tournament title after eight years on tour, at the AVP Kingston Chicago Open. 

Kropp and Branagh teamed up for the first time in 2015 after spending years on opposite sides of the net. The Tour’s best offensive player and best blocker combined to be the most impressive team on the women’s side, earning four finals berths and finishing no lower than ninth in 2015. For Kropp, it is her first-ever AVP Team of the Year award, and it marks the second time Branagh has won – she also won in 2009 with Elaine Youngs.

A Grand Island, Neb., native, Kropp was an AVCA second-team All-American at Nebraska in 2001 after averaging 1.73 blocks per set. Kropp ranks seventh in school history with 544 total blocks.