MONTGOMERY, Ala. – After winning two games last week, including the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) East Division Championship clincher, Alabama State University’s volleyball team has swept the SWAC’s list of weekly honors.
Rachel Smith was named the Offensive Player of the Week, Amber Bennett has been named the Defensive Player of the Week, Ellyn Jones was named the Setter of the Week and Tiara Kelley has been named the Newcomer of the Week.
Smith received the offensive honor for the third time this season. She set a career-high of 21 kills against Alabama A&M helping lead the Lady Hornets to the East Division clinching win. Over the course of the two ASU wins last week, Smith hit .500 from the field while posting a total of 26 kills. She recorded her third double-double of the season against A&M adding on 11 digs with her 21 kills.
It seems Bennett has received either the defensive or offensive honor each week this season and this is the fourth time this season she has been named the Defensive Player of the Week. She averaged one block per set over the course of both games last week finishing with eight total blocks. In the win over A&M she had six of the blocks and four digs to go along with her eight kills to help the Lady Hornets to the win. In all, this is the sixth weekly award she has received from the SWAC.
Kelley is receiving her second weekly honor from the SWAC and it is also the second time she has been named the Newcomer of the Week. She recorded 16 kills against Alabama A&M while hitting .345 in the win. On the week, she recorded 17 kills and hit .278 while picking up two digs and two blocks.
Jones is picking up her second weekly conference honor, but her first as the SWAC Setter of the Week. She is part of the one-two punch the Lady Hornets have in their passing attack and recorded 51 assists in the two wins last week. Among those assists was a career-high tying 30 against Alabama A&M. She almost had a double-double in the game as she also had nine digs. For the week, while she was averaging over six assists per set, she also had 14 digs.
This was the third consecutive week the Lady Hornets have had multiple player of the week honors bestowed on them from the conference office
