SARAH VON LIENEN REPEATS AS GSC WEST DIVISION
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK WINNER

         RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Arkansas Tech junior middle blocker Sarah Von Lienen (Lakeland, Tenn.) has been named the Gulf South Conference West Division Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week on Tuesday by the league office in Birmingham, Ala.

The Player of the Week honor by Von Lienen is her 10th in her Tech career and the fifth time this season she has been honored by the league. So far this season, she has been named the Offensive Player of the Week four times and the Defensive Player once. Last season, she was named the Defensive Player of the Week three times and earned Offensive Player of the Week honors once.

          Von Lienen, who was named the Preseason All-GSC West Division selection and was an Honorable Mention AVCA All-South Region honoree last season, earns this week’s offensive honor after helping guide the Golden Suns to a 3-1 record last week, including a three-set win over Henderson State, who was undefeated in West Division play prior to facing Tech. For the week, Von Lienen recorded 48 kills (4.00 kps) in 12 sets and hit .519. In addition, she had three service aces, nine digs and added 12 blocks, including three solo blocks. In Tech’s four-set win last Friday over Alabama-Huntsville at the HSU/OBU Invitational, Von Lienen recorded 21 kills and hit .545 for the Golden Suns.       

          On the season, Von Lienen has played in 93 of Tech’s 100 sets and leads the teams in kills (308), hitting percentage (.328) and blocks (87). She is averaging 3.31 kills per set, which is sixth in the latest GSC statistics and is second in the GSC with her .328 hitting percentage. She has recorded 15 double-digit kill matches and has had five matches with five or more blocks, including a career-high 10 blocks earlier this season against Ouachita Baptist.

          Along with Von Lienen, the league named Harding junior libero Emily Tate as the West Division’s Defensive Player of the Week. Meanwhile, in the East Division, North Alabama senior setter Alison Jacobs and Valdosta State junior outside hitter Irene Hannan were named the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week respectively.

          Von Lienen and her Golden Sun teammates return to action on Tuesday, Oct. 20, when they travel to Magnolia, Ark., to face Southern Arkansas, before returning home to host Harding in a 7 p.m. match on Thursday at Tucker Coliseum. Thursday’s match is Tech’s 3rd-Annual “Pink Out” Night for Breast Cancer Awareness as Tech will wear pink uniforms, which will be auctioned off and the money raised will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Along with its being “Pink Out” Night, the Harding match will also be the GSC Match of the Week.

          GSC Weekly Volleyball release

         -- Tech Athletics --