Northern Iowa’s Piper Thomas picks up this week’s Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week. Also earning weekly MVC awards this week are Illinois State’s Courtney Pace and Evansville’s Cassie Brooks.
Player of the Week
Piper Thomas – UNI – junior
Thomas came up huge for Northern Iowa this week, as they took down Illinois State and Bradley this week. On the week, Thomas averaged 5.00 kills per set on a .447 hitting percentage. Against Illinois State, Thomas posted a career-best 24 kills on a .385 hitting clip but it was not enough to take down the Redbirds, then turned around to put down 16 kills on a .583 hitting performance in a sweep over Bradley.
Defensive Player of the Week
Courtney Pace – Illinois State – junior
Pace played a big role in Illinois State downing their first top-25 opponent in nearly 14 years. In the team’s win over Northern Iowa, Pace picked up 37 digs then followed up with a 29 dig performance in the team’s loss to Drake. For the weekend, Pace averaged 8.25 digs per set. On the year, Pace is leading the MVC with 625 total digs and an average of 6.25 digs per set.
Freshman of the Week
Cassie Brooks – Evansville – freshman
Brooks helped Evansville to a sweep over Southern Illinois and put up a fight against Missouri State. Brooks notched 21 digs against the Bears while tallying 20 more digs against Southern Illinois.
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