Banks, Hanna Honored with Volleyball’s Weekly Awards
Southland Conference
Week Six Notes
FRISCO, Texas – Houston Baptist’s Bailey Banks is the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week while Makenzee Hanna of Stephen F. Austin earned the defensive award, the league announced Monday. Southland Players of the Week are presented by
UniversalCoin.com.
Banks fired a .364 hitting percentage on the week to lead the Huskies to back-to-back straight set wins to start league play. Hanna tallied six blocks in each of the Ladyjacks’ matches to lead them to a 2-0 conference record.
HBU will put its unblemished league record in Southland action to the test when the team opens this week’s conference play at Central Arkansas tonight at 7 p.m CT. The Huskies will then host Lamar on Thursday before welcoming SFA on Saturday at 1 p.m. This is the only match scheduled for the Ladyjacks this week.
Offensive Player of the Week: Bailey Banks, Houston Baptist – Sr. – Outside Hitter – Missouri City, Texas
Senior outside hitter Bailey Banks was the offensive catalyst in Houston Baptist’s pair of sweeps on the road to open Southland play. In Thursday’s victory over McNeese, Banks hit at a .423 percentage with 14 kills, two digs, two assists and two blocks. The Elkins High School product followed that performance by posting 13 kills on a .310 hitting percentage with seven digs and four aces against Nicholls on Saturday. Banks finished the week averaging 4.5 kills per set and now ranks second in the league in that category with 3.51 kills per set.
Honorable Mention: Ann Hollas, Stephen F. Austin; Taylor Cunningham, Sam Houston State; Brittany Gilpin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Defensive Player of the Week: Makenzee Hanna, Stephen F. Austin – Jr. – Outside Hitter – DeSoto, Texas
Although Makenzee Hanna downed eight kills in each of her Southland matches this week, it was her defensive efforts at the net that helped Stephen F. Austin begin conference play with two wins. The junior out of Desoto, Texas, stuffed six attacks in each match against Central Arkansas and Northwestern State, helping her rise to second among all league players in blocks per set in Southland contests. Two out of her 12 blocks were solo efforts. She is now one of six players in the league averaging more than one block per set. SFA leads the league in opponent attack percentage, holding its foes to an attacking clip of .161.
Honorable Mention: Jessica Wooten, Stephen F. Austin; Channing Burleson, Northwestern State; Madison Woods, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; Bryaunea Hall, UIW.
Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school’s sports information director. Voting for one’s own athlete is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on 25 percent of ballots.