(Tempe, AZ) On Tuesday morning, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation announced its 2022 All-MPSF honors, with three Sun Devils– Vanda Baksa, Lara Kiss, and Amira Van Buren– leading the charge.
The conference awards were highlighted by Vanda Baksa’s becoming the first ever MPSF major annual award winner for the Sun Devils, after being named MPSF Newcomer of the Year. Baksa was also named to the All-Newcomer Team this season, and is the second Sun Devil in two seasons after Luca Petovary was named to the All-Newcomer team in 2021. Kiss and Van Buren were each named All-MPSF Honorable Mention this season.
“It was well deserved for all three of them, they have done so much for us both defensively and offensively. We relied on them so much this season,” noted Petra Pardi.
Freshman Attacker, Vanda Baksa– Newcomer of the Year, All-MPSF Second Team, All-Newcomer Team
Baksa led the conference in goals (73), assists (49), points (122), and was consistently top three in steals (35) and field blocks (21) all season. In a conference full of Olympians, Baksa was out playing them nearly all season. Her All-MPSF Second Team Honor is the only all-conference honor for a freshman in the MPSF this season. Baksa took down the Sun Devil freshman goals record, and is six away from the MPSF’s all-time top-30 in single-season history. Her scoring streak stands at 17-straight games, and she has scored in 24 of ASU’s 25 contests, including 16 hat tricks, 10 of which came in the 17 game scoring streak. On February 27, Baksa tallied a 2022 conference-high eight goals against Indiana, just one shy of the all-time MPSF record– and a single-game program record. On March 12, she tallied school records of 10 points (also MPSF season-high) and seven assists– those seven assists and 10 points another single-game record in the program. She won a conference-high six weekly awards, all coming in the final eight weeks of the season.
Speaking on the first ever major award for a Sun Devil, Pardi could not find the words to describe how deserving Vanda is of Newcomer of the Year, “I am so proud of her. It is an amazing achievement to put ASU on that tier.”
Graduate center, Amira Van Buren– All-MPSF Honorable Mention
Van Buren’s third all-conference honor of her career comes after one of her best seasons in the Maroon and Gold. She has notched 37 goals this season on 71 shots (.529), which ties her single-season high when she had 37 goals in 2020. Her 52.9 shooting percentage is the second highest on the team behind Baksa’s 55.3%. At center this season, Van Buren has had 11 field blocks including the game-ending field block against IU to close out the regular season with a win. She has drawn 26 exclusions which leads the team.
Junior defender, Lara Kiss– All-MPSF Honorable Mention
With her first ever all-conference honor, Kiss picked up All-MPSF Honorable Mention after being a key defender for the Sun Devils this season. She led the conference in steals (37) and field blocks (23) while checking in at second in assists (41). She has recorded a steal in 16 of the last 17 games notching an additional nine field blocks in the last four contests. Despite just 13 goals on the season, her 41 assists were second on the team behind Vanda Baksa’s 49, after Kiss recorded just 26 assists last season. With those 41 assists, Kiss is seventh in the program’s record books for career assists with 81 total.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Claudia Schwartz, Media Relations Student Assistant
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