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Tuesday, November 20, 2007
SEC Volleyball Awards
By: Brock Sawyer
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Photo(s) By: submitted
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Nicki Fowler of Plano West wins the Freshman of the Week award.
Nicki Fowler of Plano West High School (Texas) led all freshman volleyball players in the SEC to earn Freshman of the Week honors for the Lady Vols of Tennessee. Fowler, a 6-2 outside hitter, averaged 4.88 kills per game and 3.38 digs per game.
She helped open the weekend with a team-high 17 kills and 51 attacks against Kentucky, Led UT to victory in its final SEC match of the season at Arkansas and pounded out 22 kills. She also posted the 10th and 11th double-doubles of her career and tallied nine of her 22 kills and seven of her 15 digs against Arkansas in the match clinching fourth game alone.
Fowler finished the week as the team’s top performer in kills (39), kills per game (4.88), attacks (109), points (43.0) and points per game (5.38).
Other award winners for this week include:
SEC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Rachel Kieckhaefer - Ole Miss, S, Jr., 5-11 (Watertown Luther Prep, Hartford, Wisc.)
- Hit .486 and averaged 3.17 kills per game
- Averaged 10.17 assists per game and 3.33 digs per game
- Led Ole Miss to a 2-0 weekend and their 14 SEC wins is the most ever for the Rebels and caps the program’s first-ever winning season in SEC play
- Her 10 kills against Georgia tied her career-high and she had one error in 37 attempts
- Finished one-kill shy of a triple double against AU and two digs shy against UGA
SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Elena Martinez - LSU, Libero, Jr., 5-8 (Newman HS, New Orleans, La.)
- Averaged 7.33 digs per game and totaled 44 on the weekend
- Led LSU to a pair of wins that clinched the outright SEC Western Division championship
- Broke the 21-year-old SEC single-season digs record and how has 680 for the season
- Tied for the third most digs in a three-game match in LSU history with 25 against Auburn
- Needs only 34 digs to break into the top 20 in NCAA history in single-season digs
Stats provided by Ayanna Wakefield and the Southeastern Conference Media Relations Department.
UPDATE --------11/20/2007---------3:19pm CST
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The University of Florida’s Angie McGinnis was named the 2007 SEC Volleyball Player of the Year, Elena Martinez of LSU was named the Defensive Player of the Year and the University of Tennessee’s Nikki Fowler donned Freshman of the Year honors, announced by the Southeastern Conference Tuesday. Florida’s Mary Wise and Ole Miss’ Joe Getzin were named Co-Coaches of the Year and Auburn’s Rachel Shanks is the Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The All-SEC Teams were also announced and SEC Champion Florida led the first team with three, followed by SEC Western Division Champion LSU with two players. Alabama and Kentucky each landed one.
This marks the second consecutive season that McGinnis has earned this honor. The senior setter from Fraser, Mich. helped guide the eighth-ranked Gators to a 26-1 overall, 19-1 SEC record, and their 17th consecutive Conference title as she led the league and is ranked in the top 10 nationally, in assists per game with 13.94. This also marks the 13th consecutive Player of the Year honor for Florida.
Martinez, a junior libero took the defensive honors and capped off the season by breaking the SEC single-season record with 680 digs. The New Orleans, La. native averaged 5.71 digs per game in SEC matches, leads the league in overall matches, and nationally ranks 32nd in the category. This marks the first All-SEC postseason honor for Martinez, the second for LSU. Martinez’s efforts helped the Tigers win their third straight SEC Western Division title.
The Lady Vols also landed their second all-time All-SEC honor with Fowler earning Freshman of the Year. This is the first Freshman of the Year honor for Tennessee. Fowler was the only freshman to crack the top 10 in kills in the league as she averaged 3.64 kills per game in addition to averaging 2.59 digs per game. A three-time SEC Freshman of the Week selection this season, she led the Lady Vols in kills in 12 of 20 conference matches.
This marks the eighth Coach of the Year Honor for Wise, her first since 2002. Wise coached her team to their 17th consecutive title as the Gators have been ranked in the Top 10 all season long. The Gators have won 25 matches in a season for the 17th consecutive year, the longest streak in the nation.
For the second year in a row, Getzin earned Coach of the Year honors as his Ole Miss Rebels registered a 14-6 conference record, the most SEC wins in school history. After being picked to finish seventh in the SEC Preseason Coaches Poll, the Rebels finished third, their highest finish in school history. They are expected to make their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Shanks was named SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row. The senior completed her undergrad work with a 4.0 GPA and is in her first year of Pharmacy school where she currently has a 4.0.
Joining McGinnis on the All-SEC First Team are teammates Marcie Hampton and Amber McCray, in addition to LSU’s Lauren DeGirolamo and Kyna Washington. Rounding out the top seven are Crystal Hudson from Alabama and Queen Nzenwa from Kentucky.
Player of the Year:
Angie McGinnis, Florida
Defensive Player of the Year: Elena Martinez, LSU
Freshman of the Year: Nikki Fowler, Tennessee
Co-Coaches of the Year:
Mary Wise, Florida; Joe Getzin, Ole Miss
Scholar Athlete of the Year: Rachel Shanks, Auburn
First Team All-SEC
Crystal Hudson, Alabama
Marcie Hampton, Florida
Amber McCray, Florida
Angie McGinnis, Florida
Queen Nzenwa, Kentucky
Lauren DeGirolamo, LSU
Kyna Washington, LSU
Second Team All-SEC
Bridget Fuentez, Alabama
Jessica Dorrell, Arkansas
Kelsey Bowers, Florida
Kisya Killingsworth, Florida
Maria Taylor, Georgia
Nicole Britenriker, Kentucky
Elena Martinez, LSU
Rachel Kieckhaefer, Ole Miss
All-Freshman Team
Sarah Freudenrich, Arkansas
Callie Rivers, Florida
Erika Clark, Georgia
Lauren Rapp, Kentucky
Angela Bensend, LSU
Jackie Jones, Ole Miss
Megan Laughlin, South Carolina
Nikki Fowler, Tennessee
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