Pine-Richland High School graduate Sarah Brandon was chosen as one of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's top 10 outstanding student-athletes from fall sports.

Brandon is a senior right-side hitter for the Kutztown University women's volleyball team. She holds a 3.70 GPA in psychology. A three-time PSAC East athlete of the year in her sport, she led the league in kills per game (4.33) while ranking fifth in blocks (1.29) and sixth in hitting percentage (.337).

She paced Kutztown with 463 kills and finished second on the team with 138 blocks to go along with 120 digs this past season.

Brandon finished her career as Kutztown's all-time leader in kills with 1,840 and earned Daktronics Division II All-American status in her senior season. A four-time all-PSAC East first-team selection and PSAC scholar-athlete, she also is a three-time AVCA Division II all-region first-team selection and a two-time Daktronics all-Atlantic Region first-team honoree.

The Top Ten Awards, selected by the PSAC's sports information directors, recognize student-athletes who distinguish themselves in the classroom, as well as in the arena of competition. The conference designates Top Ten Award winners after each of the sports seasons: fall, winter and spring.

To be a candidate for the Top Ten Awards, a student-athlete must have achieved a minimum of a 3.25 cumulative grade point average and must be a starter or key reserve with legitimate athletic credentials. Only student-athletes from the fall sports season are eligible for the Fall Top Ten Awards.

Butler graduate cited

Butler Area graduate Clinton Gilliland has been selected as the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III men's national player of the week.

Gilliland, a 6-foot-4 middle blocker for No. 9 D'Youville College, earned the award based on his outstanding performance in the Nickel City Classic last week, where he led his team to the title with wins over No. 7 Rivier College and Division II East Stroudsburg.

In D'Youville's sweep of Rivier, Gilliland hit .500, with five kills and two errors in 10 attempts. He also chipped in three aces and four blocks in the match.

Gilliland followed that up by hitting .531 in the Spartans' four-game win over East Stroudsburg. In that match, he had 19 kills and only two errors in 32 attempts. He also had one ace, six digs and two blocks in the victory.

For the week, Gilliland averaged 3.71 kills per game while hitting .524.