LEESBURG, Fla. – The Florida College System Activities Association announced its beach volleyball awards on Thursday evening.
Palm Beach State College's Emma Acedo Lapieza was named the 2026 FCSAA Beach Volleyball Player of the Year.
Lapieza, a sophomore from Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain, has led the Panthers to a 16-10 record this season, including an 8-0 mark in FCSAA play. The Panthers are the No. 1 seed in the FCSAA Beach Volleyball Championship, where they will look for a fourth consecutive title.
Lapieza is a repeat honoree from 2025, when she was named First-team All-FCSAA while playing for State College of Florida.
That wasn't the only major award Lapieza received, as she and teammate Tamara Streli, a freshman from Budapest, Hungary, were recognized as the 2026 FCSAA Beach Volleyball Pair of the Year.
The duo was recognized as the FCSAA Pair of the Week on February 17.
As Player of the Year, Lapieza led the First-team All-FCSAA honorees and was joined by Keira Hundley, Florida State College at Jacksonville; Ava Mohler, State College of Florida; Alice Peixoto, St. Johns River State College and Audrey Pickle, Lake-Sumter State College.
Like Lapieza, Peixoto and Pickle earned All-FCSAA honors in 2025.
In addition to Streli, Second-team All-FCSAA honorees were Sophia Cooper, Lake-Sumter State College; Paola Aviles-Morales, St. Johns River State College; Aryanna Spainhower, State College of Florida; and Kennedy Walker, Florida State College at Jacksonville.
In addition to the Lapieza/Streli selection, also being named an All-FCSAA Pair were Pickle and Ellison Saunders, Lake-Sumter State College; Peixoto and Lovina Teel, St. Johns River State College; Mohler and Liliana Palacios, State College of Florida; and Hundley and Carly Rivera, Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Three new individual awards were presented for the first time on Thursday.
Peixoto was named the FCSAA Defender of the Year; Pickle was selected as the FCSAA Blocker of the Year; and Lake-Sumter State College's Brooke Walker was named FCSAA Server of the Year.
The FCSAA awards were voted on by the FCSAA's beach volleyball coaches.