Miller Snags Second Southland Defensive Player of the Week Award of 2019
10/21/2019 2:31:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Junior libero averaged 6.83 digs per set in two SFA sweeps last week
Complete Southland Conference Release | AVCA NCAA Division I Coaches Poll
FRISCO, Texas - For the second time this season - and the first time since the SFA volleyball team has started Southland Conference play - junior libero Maddie Miller has been named the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week. The league made the announcement via a press release issued Monday afternoon.
Thanks in part to Miller, a product of Lorena, Texas, the Ladyjacks continued their run of Southland Conference dominance by picking up another pair of sweeps in league action. Thursday night against Nichols, Miller racked up 19 digs in rv SFA's 3-0 victory over the Colonels and helped spark another sweep Saturday against Southeastern Louisiana.
In SFA's three-set battle with the Lady Lions, Miller generated a match-high 22 digs and a number of those scoops helped the Ladyjacks battle back from a 24-19 deficit in the opening set to claim a 27-25 victory.
For the week, Miller totaled 41 digs - good for an impressive average of 6.83 per set - and hiked her season total to 360. On the year, Miller's digs per set average of 5.07 ranks second in the Southland Conference and 22nd among all NCAA Division I volleyball players. Her 360 total digs are the fourth-most by any Southland student-athlete and the 45th-most nationally.
With Miller on their side, rv SFA is one of only three NCAA Division I volleyball teams who have reached the 20-win mark so far this season (Milwaukee and Western Kentucky are the other two). Riding a 13-match winning streak, each of the Ladyjacks' last 12 wins have been sweeps to extend their nation-leading run of consecutive sets won to 34.
Miller and the rest of the Ladyjacks saw their stock rise once again in the latest edition of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Poll. In Monday's poll, the Ladyjacks had received 35 votes - the most in program history - and are tied with Louisville for 27th place in the nation.
Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m., SFA enters the Prince Center in Conway, Ark., to do battle with Central Arkansas in a rematch of the 2018 Southland Conference Tournament title bout. That showdown is the first of two consecutive Southland road matches SFA has on its docket to begin the second half of league action.
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