Gillen and Ryan Earn SEC Weekly Honors
FAYETTEVILLE – After sweeping No.14 Texas A&M last weekend and closing out the fall season at 6-2, Razorbacks Jillian Gillen and Gracie Ryan were recognized by the league office with weekly honors. Ryan was named Setter of the Week and Gillen earned Offensive Player of the Week honors and was selected among the weekly honorees as the Player of the Week as well.
Gillen, a sophomore outside hitter from Stilwell, Kansas, earned her first SEC weekly award of the season and the third of her career. Gillen signed off on the fall slate with a career-high four service aces on Saturday (Nov. 14) and season-highs in digs (18) and hitting percentage (.263). She earned her fifth double-double of the season on Saturday as well, matching her digs with 18 kills. Gillen concluded the fall with no less than 11 kills per match, averaging 3.91 kills per set. Gillen’s two honors are the first for Arkansas since Pilar Vitoria swept offensive and player of the week honors week five of the 2017 season.
Ryan, a junior setter from Orlando, Fla., secured her first SEC weekly honor of her career after polishing off a career-best fall season. In the Hogs’ series sweep of the Aggies, Ryan recorded the most assists per set in a series this fall, finishing with 92 total assists (11.50 assists/set). She even added five kills to the Razorback offense as well, finishing with a .400 hitting percentage in ten attempts at the net. Ryan contributed 22 digs to the Arkansas defense with 16 coming in the fall finale on Saturday, the second most digs for Ryan this fall.
The duo helped the Hogs to its first win over No.14 Texas A&M on Friday (Nov. 13) since 2017 and were a key part of a Razorback squad that recorded season-high numbers in kills, attempts, digs and assists in a four-set match in the final match of the fall (Nov. 14), en route to finishing the season with six SEC wins, the best start for Arkansas since 2017.
It’s the first time since 2015 that the Razorbacks secured offensive player of the week and setter of the week in the same week, when Pilar Victoria and setter, Adrien Wohlschlaeger earned the same honors in week five after back-to-back road wins at LSU and Texas A&M.
SEC volleyball teams will participate in spring competition as well, with details of formats contingent on final decisions by the NCAA to conduct spring championships in those sports.
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