LEXINGTON, Ky. – Emily DeWalt was honored as the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week, the organization announced Tuesday afternoon.
The freshman setter became the first player in Texas State volleyball history to win the award. She's also the fourth player in Sun Belt Conference history to be bestowed the honor, joining Western Kentucky's Amanda Schiff (Nov. 10, 2003), Middle Tennessee State's Ashley Adams (Sept. 6, 2005) and WKU's Jordyn Skinner (Sept. 13, 2011).
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DeWalt helped Texas State collect home wins over Little Rock and Arkansas State this past week. She quarterbacked an offense that finished with a cumulative .305 attack percentage, which was .041 percentage points higher than the second-best team from the conference over the course of the last week. The Bobcats also tallied 17.29 kills per set, which was 2.54 kills/set higher than the next-closest Sun Belt school, and 16.29 assists per set, which was first in the league by an average of 2.41 assists/set.
Congrats to @texasstatevball Setter Emily DeWalt for being named this week's @AVCAVolleyball Player of the Week. #EatEmUpCats https://t.co/TfmsSB7ueV pic.twitter.com/e5Tk67yUH9
— Texas State Bobcats (@TxStateBobcats) October 2, 2018
The Helotes, Texas, native had double-doubles in both matches, upping her Sun Belt lead to 11 this season. She averaged 14.00 assists per set (98) and 3.43 digs per set (24), while adding six kills, four aces and a block. She had 55 assists and 14 digs against LR and tallied 43 assists and 10 digs against A-State. Both assist totals were the most this season by a Sun Belt player in a three- and four-set match, respectively.
DeWalt was also named the Sun Belt Setter and Freshman of the Week for her performance. She is both the first setter and the first freshman to win the national laurel this season.
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Texas State is slated to compete against UT Arlington at 6:30 p.m. tonight inside Strahan Arena. The contest will double as the 12th Annual Pink Match for Texas State. In conjunction with their bout with the Mavericks, TXST will take donations and hold a silent auction as part of the annual contest to help promote cancer awareness. The silent auction will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be open until the 15th point is scored in the third set. All proceeds stay local and support Pink Heals Hays County
