Bottles Earns SLC Weekly Honor
9/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 22, 2008
FRISCO, Texas - Freshman Mary Caitlin "MC" Bottles earned her first career Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week honor on Monday, becoming the third Ladyjack in four weeks to earn a weekly honor.
Bottles also becomes the first freshman to win SLC Defensive Player of the Week since Stephanie Figgers did so on Sept. 17, 2003 and is the first freshman to win any SLC weekly honor since Lauren Railey earned offensive honors on Oct. 17, 2005.
The Ladyjacks are undefeated in five matches since Bottles' insertion into the starting lineup against SMU, and the Rowlett, Texas, freshman had a breakout match in her first home appearance Tuesday against North Texas. She had 12 kills on a dozen attacks, misfiring only once on 17 tries for a .647 attack percentage. More impressive than that, though was her eight blocks against the Mean Green.
That set the tone for her week as she finished with 16 block assists and a solo block for the week, averaging 1.21 blocks per set. Aside from the North Texas match, she also had five blocks including a solo block against Big 12 foe Texas Tech when the Ladyjacks had a dozen blocks as a team against the Red Raiders.
Bottles also added 11 digs as a middle blocker in 14 sets and averaged 2.64 kills per set on .409 hitting in the four matches for the week. Overall this season she is hitting a team-best .361, which is second-best in the SLC, and is one of only two players in the entire conference averaging at least a block per set.
Bottles and the Ladyjacks will face a tough early test on Friday as they open up SLC play in Conway, Ark., against Central Arkansas. The Sugar Bears currently sport a 9-3 overall record and 1-0 record in SLC play having knocked off Northwestern State last week in their conference opener. The Ladyjacks will then take on Northwestern State on Monday in a match rescheduled from its original Saturday time.
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