Franklin Earns First Career SEC Freshman of the Week Honor
Dec. 1, 2014
LEXINGTON, Ky. — After a career-best week to close the 2014 regular season, Kentucky volleyball redshirt freshman Emily Franklin was named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week.
Franklin helped the Wildcats to wins over Auburn and Arkansas in the final week of the regular season to earn her first career Freshman of the Week honor. It is the ninth Player of the Week accolade of the season for UK, the most weekly league honors in a season in program history.
Franklin had a career-high 10 kills on a career-high-tying .500 hitting in UK’s 3-1 win at Auburn Wednesday. The Mesa, Ariz., native added four blocks and a career-high two digs. The four blocks was second on the team, while she was the only Wildcat to record a solo block, with two. Three days later on Senior Night vs. Arkansas, Franklin had seven kills on .462 hitting with three blocks in a UK sweep.
In the Wildcats’ two victories, Franklin was tied for third on the team with 17 kills, while her .484 hitting percentage and seven blocks was second-best on the team.
Senior Jackie Napper has been named Defensive Player of the week four times, the most Player of the Week accolades by a Wildcat in a single season in program history. Fellow senior Lauren O’Conner was named SEC Player of the Week twice in 2014, while junior setter Morgan Bergren earned Player of the Week honors on Oct. 6 and junior Sara Schwarzwalder was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 13.
No. 13 Kentucky earned its program-record 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and will host the first and second rounds for the third consecutive year. The Wildcats host Oakland at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday, December 5. Lipscomb will face Ohio State in the first match at 5 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum, while the winners will square off in the second round on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
Head coach Craig Skinner has led the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament in all 10 seasons as head coach. Kentucky is one of just 10 teams in the country to advance to the tournament in each of those 10 seasons. Information on how to purchase tickets, which are available now, can be found on UKathletics.com/Tickets.
Visit UKathletics.com for the most up-to-date information on the Kentucky volleyball team and all 22 varsity sports. For additional info on the volleyball team like Kentucky Volleyball on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter at @KentuckyVB.
