Riley Earns Second Big 12 Defensive Nod of 2012
Oct. 15, 2012
LAWRENCE, Kan. – A Big 12-best performance on the road to help the 21st-ranked Kansas volleyball team knock off Oklahoma resulted in Big 12 Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for junior libero Brianne Riley for the week of Oct. 8-15.
Though she scored just two points off service aces, Riley was a key reason behind KU’s victory on the road at Oklahoma on Wednesday. Her career-high 43 digs crushed her previous best (34) and are the most by any Big 12 player this season. Riley’s career day helped Kansas gather a season-high 98 digs as a team – only Texas Tech has more in a match this season (101). Her effort kept the ball off the floor multiple times as she repeatedly got passes off to teammates, converting them to points and leading KU past Oklahoma to move to 5-0 in Big 12 play.
“A number like that in a highly-contested match against a very good Big 12 team on the road just speaks to her tenacity and enthusiasm at her position,” head coach Ray Bechard said. “That and the pride she takes in playing great defense.”
Although the Jayhawks would snap their conference unbeaten mark just two days later at No. 9 Texas, Riley led the floor with 15 digs in that match.
Her 58 total digs gave her a remarkable 7.25 digs per set average for the week and brought her season mark to 5.47, keeping her atop the Big 12 leaderboard every day of the 2012 season.
At Kansas, Riley’s week saw her become the only player in Jayhawk history to record 400-plus digs in three different seasons. The Naperville, Ill., native now has 409 digs on the year and 1,294 for her Jayhawk volleyball career, needing only 31 more to move into third all-time on KU’s career list.
This marks the second career Defensive Player of the Week honor for Riley and third overall as she was named the Big 12 Rookie of the on Sept. 20, 2010.
UP NEXT
Riley and the Jayhawks come home to welcome rival, No. 17 Kansas State, Wednesday night at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. and the match will be televised live on Metro Sports.
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