A week after Ainise Havili brought home the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week award, her teammate Kelsie Payne is doing the same as the two-time All-American won the latest weekly accolade.
Payne garners the award with a 3-0 week for the Jayhawks that included winning the Wolverine Invitational, where she was named MVP. The senior right side totaled 4.80 kills per set on a .389 hitting percentage in addition to 19 digs and six blocks. The award becomes the sixth Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week that Payne has earned in her career.
Joining Payne in the second week of Big 12 volleyball awards is Hali Hillegas of Iowa State (Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week) and Lexi Sun of Texas (Big 12 Freshman of the Week).
Hillegas, a redshirt sophomore for the Cyclones, brings home the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week award for the third time in her career and first in 2017. In two matches at the Dayton Invitational, she recorded 48 digs (6.00 per set) as Iowa State won both its matches over Dayton and Pittsburgh.
Rounding out the trio of awardees is Lexi Sun, the top overall recruit who joined the Longhorns this season. Sun helped Texas win the USD Tournament en route to MVP honors of the event. In total, she netted 31 kills (3.10 per set) on a .342 hitting percentage to go with 19 digs, eight blocks and a pair of aces.
Leave a Reply