Pugh Named SAC’s Hitter of the Week
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (September 8, 2014) -- For the first time in her career, sophomore middle hitter Molli Pugh has been named the Sooner Athletic Conference’s Hitter of the Week for Aug. 31 through Sept. 7, the conference offices announced this afternoon.
Last season, Pugh was named the SAC’s Player of the Week on Oct. 28.
“I'm happy that Molli was recognized for her performance this past weekend,” head coach Ken Carver said of Pugh’s efforts. “We worked a lot this last week in getting both of our middle hitters more opportunities offensively. Given the extra chances, both Molli and Libby (Blasingame) were very efficient attackers for us this past weekend. Molli is a versatile player and a threat to attack anywhere along the net. We'll definitely continue to work on providing her more chances to scores points offensively moving forward.”
Pugh, a native of Little Rock, Ark., averaged 1.6 kills while hitting at a .284 attack percentage in a 1-3 week for JBU. She also added nine block assists and six digs while playing in all 15 games.
The Golden Eagles now stand at 6-4 on the season after downing Doane (Neb.) at the Baker (Kan.) Invitational. JBU fell in the other three matches, however, absorbing losses to the Wildcats, Graceland (Iowa) and Morningside (Iowa).
Wayland Baptist’s Shahala Hawkins was named the conference Player of the Week for the second straight time while other honors went Oklahoma Baptist’s Kate Decker as Setter of the Week and Oklahoma City’s Kelley Shiels as Libero of the Week.
Hawkins, a junior from Denver City, Texas, helped WBU to a 2-2 week which included wins over Embry-Riddle (Fla.) and Montana Western. She averaged 5.25 kills over a 16-game span while maintaining an attack percentage of .369. Her 30 kills against Montana Western was two shy of the school record she set last week.
Shiels, a senior from Edmond, Okla., became just the 12th OCU player to record more than 30 digs in a single match when she had 31 in a four-game loss to Evangel College. OCU finished the week 2-2 where Shiels had 87 digs in 13 games, an average of 6.7 digs per game.
Decker, a freshman from Edmond, averaged 4.93 assists over a 14-game span in which Oklahoma Baptist went 3-1 with victories over Montana Western, Embry-Riddle and Benedictine. Decker has helped the Bison to a 7-4 start.
