Gracison Saylors, Kassie O’Brien Named SEC Players of the Week
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman middle blocker Gracison Saylors earned her first-career Southeastern Conference honor Monday as she was awarded the SEC’s Freshman of the Week and Kassie O’Brien won her fifth SEC Setter of the Week title, the league announced.
In her SEC debut, Gracison Saylors was the most impactful player for Kentucky this weekend, hitting an unbelievable .667 with 12 kills on 18 swings and no errors in her first two career SEC appearances and starts. Saylors in her first-ever SEC match Friday had seven kills on nine errorless attacks and six blocks, all career highs, including her first-career solo stuff in the second set.
On Sunday afternoon, Saylors backed that up with a five-kill match vs. Mississippi State on nine errorless swings and three blocks to average 1.50 blocks per set on the weekend and 2.00 kills in the two-match stretch. This weekend marked her third and fourth career matches for the Wildcats and her first two league matches.
O’Brien ran the Kentucky offense to the tune of .389 hitting on the weekend as the Wildcats swept Alabama and Mississippi State. O’Brien averaged a monstrous 12.33 assists per set in the two matches and pushed Kentucky to .411 hitting Friday night against Alabama, UK’s first time as a team hitting above .400 in a single match since playing Vanderbilt on SEC opening night in Nashville. O’Brien also had 12 digs on the week, three blocks and four kills with two in each contest. The Katy, Texas, native had 38 assists vs. Alabama and 36 vs. Mississippi State for her 20th and 21st matches this season with 30+ assists.
Kentucky will conclude the regular season this weekend on the road with a Friday match at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app at South Carolina before the regular season finale Sunday afternoon in Athens against the Georgia Bulldogs at 2 pm. ET from Stegeman Coliseum.
SEC Players of the Week – Week 11
| Offensive | Jurnee Robinson, LSU |
| Defensive | Logan King, Florida |
| Co-Setter | Kassie O’Brien, Kentucky and Avery Scoggins, Vanderbilt |
| Co-Freshmen | Gracison Saylors, Kentucky and Jolene Oddo, Tennessee |
The Player of the Week is Logan King of Florida.
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