CONWAY, Ark. – Central Arkansas Volleyball continues to receive conference recognition as some familiar faces keep raking in the hardware. Caylan Koons once again won ASUN Freshman of the Week and Alexis McDaniel won ASUN Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week.
The Sugar Bears kept up their recent dominance over the weekend with big wins over Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson each in five sets. The win marks seven straight, dating back to September 27th, including six straight ASUN wins against some tough opponents. The morale is high on this Sugar Bear team right now, and the two Freshmen are a big reason why.
McDaniel had a career weekend last week and outdid all of those numbers this past Friday and Saturday. McDaniel contributed 32 digs, breaking her previous career high of 25 which she set last weekend. She added in eight assists and four aces in the massive win over Florida Gulf Coast. McDaniel posted some more solid numbers on Sunday against Stetson, as she put up 21 digs, five assists, and two aces in another big win. McDaniel's overall total sits at 221 digs and 45 assists so far.
Caylan Koons keeps on trucking and can seriously be considered UCA's most consistent player. She was massive in the fifth set against FGCU, as she contributed four aces in the deciding set. She also put up 36 assists on Friday and 46 assists on Sunday. The freshman's assist tally sits at 602 so far after another big weekend. Koons is bringing a massive spark to the UCA offense since late September, and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Coach John Newberry on the big weekend: "We are excited for these young ladies to receive these awards. Both of them were extremely impactful for our wins this past weekend. It was a complete team effort from every single person. What I love the most about these awards is that we know that it wasn't just these two young ladies that stood out, but it was the whole team.
Caylan had a dominant performance against Florida Gulf Coast. She was a huge asset for us from the service line for another week in a row. We are starting to see her mature into this starting role that she has been in lately.
Alexis had some big time digs against both of these teams who have extremely powerful attackers. She was also an integral part from the service line as well. I'm really proud of the composure that she had throughout this whole weekend."
