Fairley garners second SAC Player of the Week plaudit
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the second time this season, senior outside hitter Sara Fairley (Charlotte, N.C.) was named the Astroturf South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week as announced by the league office Tuesday afternoon.
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the second time this season, senior outside hitter Sara Fairley (Charlotte, N.C.) was named the Astroturf South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week as announced by the league office Tuesday afternoon.
Fairley won her first career honor on September 22 and joins senior outside hitter Molly Locke (College Grove, Tenn.) and Wingate middle blocker Abby Saehler as the three players to win the award twice this season. An Eagle has been honored as the Player of the Week in weeks one, three, five and seven this year.
"It's been great having Molly coming onto the team this year," Fairley said. "We have just tried to lead our team telling each other where to hit on the court and it's been great to back each other up."
Carson-Newman becomes the first school in conference history to have two players win a Player of the Week award multiple times in back-to-back seasons. Rachel Harper took home the honor three times in 2014 and Jenna Wilson earned the accolade twice. The only other school to have a duo win the plaudit multiple times in a season was Wingate in 2009 as Stormi Gale won four times and Lauren Billo won three times.
The Eagles went 2-0 last week with sweeps over Lenoir-Rhyne and Brevard. Fairley averaged 5.33 kills per set on a .314 attack percentage in the two matches. She began her weekend with 17 kills on a .333 attack percentage with a service ace, six digs and a solo block and helped a massive third-set comeback against the Bears. Against Brevard, Fairley racked up 16 kills on a .314 hitting percentage with six digs.
"We definitely weren't expecting L-R to come out in the third set so strong," Fairley said. "When they did we at first didn't really know how to handle it. I think it shows a sign of a great team that we were able to fight and come back and close it out in the third set."
The senior outside hitter has tallied 16 or more kills on six occasions this year while leading the team in kills seven times. Fairley ranks third in the league in total kills with 232, fourth in total points with 265, fifth in points per set and kills per set with 3.8 and 3.31 respectively.
Carson-Newman is in action Tuesday night with a short hike to Mars Hill for a 7 p.m. first serve looking for its 17th straight SAC road victory.
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