Rutherford Wins SEC Player of the Week, Two Others Honored

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky Volleyball opposite Reagan Rutherford was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week and Offensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday afternoon. Kentucky also won two other awards with sophomore Eleanor Beavin winning SEC Defensive Player of the Week and setter Emma Grome winning SEC Setter of the Week.

The honor for Rutherford is the first SEC weekly honor of her career after averaging 5.00 kills per set as Kentucky ran the table to win the 2022 Hilton Omaha Bluejay Invitational hosted by Creighton University. Rutherford logged a career-high 25 kills in UK’s 3-1 win over Creighton on Saturday morning and hit .473 for the weekend with 11, 25 and 14 kills in the three matches.

The Missouri City, Texas native also registered five aces, three assists, 20 digs and nine blocks en route to winning the Bluejay Invitational MVP award.

Eleanor Beavin was named to the Bluejay Invitational All-Tournament Team with 4.90 digs per set, including a season-high 19 in UK’s win over Creighton. Beavin was the key cog in Kentucky’s defense holding its opponents to just .176 hitting on the weekend with 49 total digs in the three matches.

Emma Grome picked up her sixth weekly award from the SEC office in her career Monday afternoon as she was crowned the SEC Setter of the Week. The Loveland, Ohio native powered the UK offense to .418 hitting on the weekend with 11.90 assists per set. Grome also had eight kills on 10 offensive swings, four service aces and 2.50 digs per set.

Kentucky next plays Friday at 6 p.m. ET against No. 6 Wisconsin inside Memorial Coliseum on ESPNU. Fans should note the time change for the match, as it’s been moved up an hour to 6 p.m. ET so that ESPNU can televise the match on national TV. Fans with pre-purchased tickets do not need to do anything with their tickets, as they are all still valid for the match.

The first serve of Campbell vs. Indiana State has been moved up to 3 p.m. ET to accommodate the television schedule on Friday afternoon, Sept. 9.

SEC Weekly Awards – Sept. 5, 2022

SEC Player of the Week – Reagan Rutherford, Kentucky

Offensive Player of the Week – Reagan Rutherford, Kentucky

Defensive Player of the Week – Eleanor Beavin, Kentucky; Lilly Gunter, Mississippi St.

Setter of the Week – Emma Grome, Kentucky

Freshman of the Week – Logan Lednicky, Texas A&M

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