ST. LOUIS – Illinois State volleyball players Courtney Pence and Lexi Varga have earned weekly honors from the Missouri Valley Conference, the league announced Monday. Pence was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week, while Varga earned Freshman of the Week status.
Pence and Varga helped guide the Redbirds to a 2-1 record over the past week, including wins over Indiana State and Missouri State.
Pence, a freshman libero from Springfield, Illinois, led the Redbirds in digs in all three of her team's matches over the past week. She tallied 55 digs in all (4.58 per set), including a match-high 18 in a win at Indiana State on Tuesday and another match-high 18 in a sweep of Missouri State Saturday. The freshman libero also chipped in 19 assists and three aces over the three-match stretch. Pence currently ranks second in the league in digs (4.94 per set).
Varga, a freshman from Rockford, Illinois, strung together three of her best matches of the season over the past week. The freshman outside hitter reached double-digit kills in all three matches, with at least 13 kills in all three contests. She averaged 3.42 kills per set, while posting a stellar .373 hitting percentage. Varga also averaged one block per set, tallying 12 blocks in 12 sets over the three-match span. Varga also chipped in 11 digs.
The Illinois State volleyball team (17-7, 7-4 MVC) will return to action this weekend with matches at Northern Iowa (13-11, 7-4) Friday and Drake (13-15, 4-7) Saturday. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN3, and links for live stats, audio and video can be found at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also receive live match updates by following @RedbirdVB on Twitter.
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