EVANSVILLE, Ind.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball's
Aysa Thomas was named the Ohio Valley Conference's Freshman of the Year for the 2025 season. Thomas, along with junior
Ashby Willis and senior
Bianca Anderson, earned All-OVC honors.
Thomas is the first Screaming Eagle in program history to earn the Freshman of the Year honor, since moving to Division I in 2022. Thomas was also named to the All-OVC Second Team for her performance in her debut season. She becomes the first freshman and the fourth Eagle to win all-conference recognition.
In the regular season, Thomas tallied 1,048 assists, 361 digs, 71 kills, 40 blocks, and 21 aces. She averages 9.27 assists and 3.19 digs per set. The setter's impressive stat line has consistently landed her in the top three on the league leaderboard for total assists and assists per set throughout the season.
The freshman holds a career-high of 56 assists, which she recently set in the regular-season finale win on the road at Western Illinois University on Nov. 19. She picked up a career-high 26 digs at Southeast Missouri State University on Oct. 10. Thomas has earned conference Setter and Freshman of the Week honors four times each this season.
In her second season at USI, Willis has been named to the All-OVC First Team. She is the second player in program history to earn first-team honors, after Leah Anderson in 2023, and, along with Thomas this year, the fourth player to win conference recognition.
The junior has consistently led the Eagles' offense this season, tallying 401 kills, 328 digs, 54 blocks, and 24 aces in USI's 30 regular-season games. She ranks third in the conference in number of kills, with her 3.55 kills per set. Willis recorded her career-high of 25 kills in the final game of the regular season at WIU and picked up a season-high 24 digs in the game as well.
As captains, Willis and Anderson have led the Eagles to the most successful seasons in the program's DI era, with the most overall and OVC wins in school history.
For the second consecutive year, Anderson was named to the All-OVC Second Team. The senior has played in over 100 matches in her career as an Eagle, tallying over 880 kills, 280 blocks, and 130 digs. Her final season has proven to be her most successful season yet as she's tallied 269 kills, 104 blocks, 64 digs, and 15 aces.
The senior averages 0.92 blocks per set, and with her over 100 blocks this season, she has led the team to the top of the OVC for blocks and blocks per set. Anderson leads the team with a .242 hitting percentage, hitting over .300 in 12 games this season.
These three Eagles will lead the team into Charleston, Ill., on Sunday to compete in the OVC Tournament, and will take on six-seeded Tennessee Tech University in the first round at 1 p.m. on ESPN+. For updates on the Screaming Eagles in the OVC Tournament, fans can follow USI Athletics on Facebook, Instagram, and X for game coverage, as well as online at usiscreamingeagles.com.
