Mizzou Volleyball Sweeps Week 2 SEC Players of the Week Awards
10/26/2020 2:41:00 PM | Volleyball
Deberg, Fuentes, Omazic and Brown all recognized by league office
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Volleyball swept the Southeastern Conference Week Two Volleyball Players of the Week awards, announced Monday by the league office. It marks only the second time in SEC history that a single program claimed all five weekly awards, as Kentucky first accomplished the feat on Nov. 14, 2016.
Senior OH Kylie Deberg was named the Overall and Offensive Player of the Week, senior MB Tyanna Omazic took home the Defensive Player of the Week award, redshirt junior S Andrea Fuentes was tabbed the Setter of the Week and first-year DS Emily Brown tallied Freshman of the Week accolades.
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— Mizzou Volleyball (@MizzouVB) October 26, 2020
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"This is an incredible accomplishment by our team and I'm so proud of everyone's hard work this first week of the season," Mizzou Volleyball head coach Joshua Taylor. "Kylie, Tyanna, Andrea and Emily all performed exceptionally well individually and played key roles into our back to back wins at Alabama. Our success in Tuscaloosa was a true team effort however, as you could argue other players deserved some league recognition too."
Monday marks Mizzou's 53rd, 54th, 55th, 56th and 57th all-time weekly SEC Player of the Week honors. Individually, Fuentes has now earned 12 all-time weekly SEC awards and Deberg has produced nine all-time honors. Monday stands as Omazic and Brown's first career weekly SEC recognition.
Specifically, Fuentes earned her sixth career SEC Setter of the Week award, while Deberg was named the Overall SEC Player of the Week for the third time and Offensive Player of the Week for the sixth time.
In Mizzou's fall 2020 season-opening two-match series at Alabama (Oct. 21-22), Deberg led the Tigers' offense with 4.43 kills per set and 5.43 points per set. The Hudson, Iowa, native only committed four attack errors on 69 attempts, tallying an incredible .391 hitting percentage. Deberg opened her season with a match-high 22 kills on .367 hitting in Mizzou's four-set win against the Crimson Tide. In midst of her explosive season debut, Deberg earned her 1,000th career kill.
Omazic opened her season with a team-best 11 total blocks (1.57 per set), leading the Tigers' defensive efforts at the net. In last Thursday's series finale, her six total blocks led to an impressive 11.0 total blocks collectively by Mizzou in a straight-set victory. After the aforementioned individual 11 total blocks at Alabama, Omazic moved into the Top 10 all-time Mizzou career total blocks list.
Fuentes orchestrated a monster two-match stretch for Mizzou's offense in Tuscaloosa, as it tallied 92 kills on .323 hitting overall. The San Juan, Puerto Rico, native pushed the right buttons in Thursday's finale, as the Tigers collectively posted 39 kills on .412 hitting. Entering this week's schedule (Oct. 26 - Nov. 1), Mizzou's .323 team hitting percentage ranks second in the SEC. Individually, Fuentes enjoyed a standout season opener last Wednesday, earning a double-double with 40 assists and 14 digs.
Brown was impressive in her Mizzou and collegiate debut last week, highlighted by a match-high 19 digs in the Tigers' season-opening win last Wednesday. Her 19 digs were the most by a freshman Tiger defensive specialist since 2013. Brown led a strong back row defensive effort by the Tigers this past week, as Alabama's offense was limited to a .205 hitting percentage over two matches.
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