Nov. 13, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. - After leading the Redbirds to a sweep of rival Bradley and recording a career performance against first-place Northern Iowa, Illinois State sophomore setter Erin Lindsey was tabbed the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Co-Player of the Week. It is Lindsey's fifth career weekly honor, as she garnered four MVC Newcomer of the Week accolades in her record-setting 2005-06 freshman campaign.
Lindsey averaged a dominating 16.00 set assists-per-game in two Missouri Valley Conference matches last week. In ISU's sweep at Bradley (Nov. 10), Lindsey had a match-best 48 assists to go along with six digs, three block assists, two kills and two service aces. In the four-game setback to Northern Iowa, Lindsey had a season-best tying 64 set assists (16.00 apg), four digs, four block assists and three kills.
Head coach Sharon Dingman believes that Lindsey deserves the honor not only for the stellar week she recorded, but also for her elevated play in the second half of the Valley slate.
"Erin is the captain of our ship," Dingman said. "In the second half of the season, she has learned so much more about how to run an offense. If you look at our kills-per-game and hitting percentage in the second half of the conference season, they are significantly higher than what we were averaging in the first half. A good portion of that improvement has to be attributed to Erin, because she is the anchor of what we try to do offensively."
Despite the loss to UNI, Dingman was impressed with Lindsey's play.
"That was a great match Sunday, and Erin was huge," said Dingman. "We really believe we can compete with Northern (Iowa), especially if Erin is playing well. She did a great job in that match of getting us in rhythm. Her defensive effort was also great, which is another part of her game that has really improved throughout the season."
Lindsey's honor marked the second individual weekly plaudit for an Illinois State player this season. Freshman middle blocker Katie Seyller was named Co-Newcomer of the Week for the period ending Oct. 30.
The Redbirds will finish up their regular season Valley slate this weekend when they travel to Wichita State (Nov. 17) and Missouri State (Nov. 18), the respective second and third-place teams in the current league standings.
