Daron Deemed Defensive Player of the Week by Southland Conference
11/5/2018 2:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Junior posted career-best 13 blocks in Saturday win over ACU, averaged 2.50 blocks per set for SFA last week
Complete Southland Conference Release
FRISCO, Texas - For the second time in 2018, SFA volleyball junior middle blocker Danae Daron earned the title of Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week. The league office made the announcement via a press release issued Monday afternoon and Daron latched on to her second weekly honor of the 2018 campaign thanks largely to one of the most impressive single-match efforts in all of NCAA Division I volleyball this season.
Setting aside the fact that she hit an absurd .625 while averaging 2.75 terminations per frame through the Ladyjacks' two-match week, it was the defensive numbers of Daron that turned the most heads. Thursday night in a heated battle between SFA and Sam Houston State, Daron racked up a career-best three solo blocks as part of a seven-block effort that helped the Ladyjacks drop the Bearkats 3-1. With that win, SFA opened up a 1.5-match lead over their Piney Woods rivals for the top spot in the Southland standings.
Saturday afternoon against Abilene Christian, Daron played a part in putting on one of the best front-row defensive clinics in all of NCAA Division I volleyball this season. The junior reset her career high by amassing 13 total blocks - the most in a four-set match by an NCAA Division I volleyball player this season and the second-most in a single match by an SFA player in program history. Those 13 blocks were part of an SFA defensive effort which yielded 25.5 total blocks - the most in a four-set match by any NCAA Division I volleyball team this season and the second-most in a match of any length this season on the NCAA Division I volleyball scene.
Those blocks helped SFA take down Abilene Christian 3-1, finish off the Ladyjacks' first perfect home record since 2005 and clinch at least a share of the 2018 Southland Conference regular season crown. Additionally, SFA upped its nation-leading winning streak to 24 matches and pushed its 2018 win total to a nation-leading 27.
Over the course of last week, Daron boosted her season attack percentage to a Southland Conference-leading .341 and upped her blocks per set average to 1.26 - the second-best figure in the Southland. In all, Daron averaged 2.50 blocks per set last week and helped SFA hold its opponents to an attack percentage of just .060.
Daron and the rest of the Ladyjacks will now try to do something no SFA team has done since 2014 and that's complete and undefeated run through the Southland Conference in the regular season. The Ladyjacks travel to Louisiana for their final two regular season tilts and Thursday evening in Thibodaux, La., SFA can clinch the outright 2018 Southland Conference regular season title when it takes on Nicholls inside Stopher Gymnasium. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.
-SFA-
