IRVING, Texas - After helping the Lady Topper volleyball program extend its win streak to 13 over the weekend, WKU's Rachel Anderson and Georgia O'Connell have been named Conference USA Players of the Week, announced the league office Monday afternoon. Over the weekend road trip, the Red and White swept UTEP and took down UTSA, 3-1.
Anderson was named the conference's Offensive Player of the Week while O'Connell brought in the Defensive Player of the Week laurel.
During her debut season, Anderson was named the Freshman of the Week during the week of Sept. 28, but this marks the sophomore's first Offensive Player of the Week accolade. In her final campaign on The Hill, O'Connell picks up her third C-USA Defensive Player of the Week honor. The senior has now earned the award once during each of the past three seasons.
In WKU's pair of weekend victories, Anderson led the Lady Topper attack with an average of 4.29 kills per set while working at a .540 attack clip. Anderson collected 30 kills across the matches on 50 swings with just three attack errors. With Friday night's 10-kill outing and Sunday's 20-kill performance, Anderson has now registered double-digit kills in 16 matches this season. Anderson also achieved the 500-kill career milestone in Sunday's four-set victory at UTSA. She also contributed seven blocks over the weekend.
Defensively, O'Connell recorded 33 weekend digs across the pair of victories including a tie for her season high of 23 digs Sunday at UTSA. In the fourth set alone of WKU's tilt in San Antonio, the senior libero registered eight of her 23 digs as the Roadrunner offense was limited to a .025 hitting percentage in the frame. Sunday's outing marked O'Connell's third 20-dig performance of 2016 and her 20th double-digit dig tally on the season. O'Connell averaged 4.71 digs per set in weekend action. Additionally, the senior worked at a .958 reception rate over the weekend, with 23 successful serve receptions in 24 attempts.
Overall in Sunday's contest, the Red and White worked at a .185 offensive clip including Anderson's match-high .633, while limiting UTSA to its lowest mark of the season at .077.
With the most recent awards achieved by Anderson and O'Connell, WKU Volleyball has seen 10 weekly awards garnered in 2016 by Lady Toppers. Alyssa Cavanaugh has collected a pair of offensive weekly honors while Jessica Lucas has earned the Setter of the Week nod on six occasions.
Halfway through its final regular-season road stretch, WKU will head to Marshall for a Friday night match before visiting UAB on Sunday for the second 2016 matchup between the sides. Matches will start at 5 p.m. CT and noon CT, respectively.
