EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Volleyball earned a clean sweep of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Volleyball Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week awards Monday as sophomore outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) and senior setter Casey Cepicky (St. Louis, Missouri) were respectively named as the honorees in a release by the conference office Monday afternoon.
Anderson was named the Baden GLVC Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 4.09 kills, 1.00 service aces, 4.18 digs and 5.32 points per set to lead USI Volleyball to three GLVC wins on the week. She also averaged 0.45 blocks, while posting a .252 attacking percentage in 11 sets of work.
A first-team All-GLVC honoree last spring, Anderson began the week with 10 kills, four aces, nine digs and four blocks in USI’s three-set win over McKendree University on Tuesday. She came back with 12 kills, a .320 attacking percentage, five aces and 11 digs in USI’s three-set win over Truman State University Friday.
The exercise science major finished the week with a career-high 23 kills and 26 digs in USI’s five-set, come-from-behind win over the University of Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday. For the week, Anderson finished with 45 kills, 46 digs, 11 aces, five blocks and 58.5 points.
Cepicky was named the Baden GLVC Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 3.36 digs, 1.00 blocks and 10.18 assists per set last week. She became the 12th player in program history to reach the 1,000-dig plateau as well as the first-player in program history with the combination of 3,000 assists and 1,000 digs.
The business administration major saved her best effort for the end of the week as she finished with a career-high 61 assists and six blocks to go along with 12 digs in USI’s win over Missouri-St. Louis. She had 35 assists and 16 digs in the Eagles’ win over Truman State after beginning the week with 16 assists, nine digs and four blocks in USI’s win over McKendree.
For the week, Cepicky racked up 37 digs, 11 blocks and 112 assists. She leads USI with 9.29 assists per set, is third on the team with 0.60 blocks per frame and is fourth on the team with 2.27 digs per game.
USI returns to action Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CDT) when it travels to Indianapolis to take on the University of Indianapolis. The Eagles also visit Rockhurst University Friday at 7 p.m. in Kansas City, Missouri, before finishing the week with a trip to Bolivar, Missouri, to take on Southwest Baptist University Saturday at 3 p.m.
Notes
• GLVC Player of the Week. Monday’s awards mark the second time in both Anderson and Cepicky’s careers that they have garnered GLVC Player of the Week accolades. Cepicky was named the GLVC Offensive Player of the Week as a junior in 2019, while Anderson collected GLVC Offensive Player of the Week and AVCA Division II Player of the Week honors last February.
Senior middle blocker Sidney Hegg (Menasha, Wisconsin) was named the GLVC Offensive Player of the Week earlier this season, while senior libero Callie Gubera(Thorntown, Indiana) was the last USI Volleyball player to win GLVC Defensive Player the Week honors when she earned the honor along with AVCA Division II National Player of the Week accolades last April.
Monday’s awards also mark the second time in program history that USI has swept both the GLVC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week awards. Cepicky and Audrey Crowder were respectively named the GLVC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week November 4, 2019.
