Kelly Murphy Earns Two Weekly Honors from SEC
Monday, September 29, 2008 | Volleyball
Freshman Florida right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) was named the Southeastern Conference's Offensive Player of the Week and the league's Freshman of the Week, becoming just the second player in league history to earn those two honors in the same week, the league office in Birmingham, Ala., announced Monday.
Murphy earned the honors after helping the Gators (10-1, 4-0 SEC) to wins against Arkansas and Ole Miss in the first SEC road weekend of her collegiate career. On the weekend, she led the Gators with a .438 hitting percentage and was second on the team in kills per set (4.00/set) and assists per set (6.71/set). She also was second on the team in points with 30.5 total points and third on the squad in digs with 2.71 scoops per set.
Murphy, who has posted a team-leading six double-doubles this season, became just the second player in Florida school history (former All-America setter Angie McGinnis was the other) to record a triple-double when she tallied the fifth triple-double in school history on Friday night in a 3-0 win against Arkansas. She finished that match with a career-high 15 kills on .619 hitting with 18 assists and a career-high 10 digs. Murphy becomes the first freshman in school history to chart a triple-double.
Murphy came just shy of becoming the first player in school history to record back-to-back triple-doubles, as she was one dig short of accomplishing that feat on Sunday at Ole Miss. She finished that match with 13 kills, a career-high 29 assists and nine digs. Murphy dished out 18 or more assists in both of the weekend's matches.
Murphy played every point of every set against both Arkansas and Ole Miss and helped direct the Florida offense to a .314 hitting efficiency for the weekend. The Gators hit better than .300 in both of their matches.
On the season, Murphy leads the Gators in both hitting percentage (.330) and assists per set (5.79/set). She also is second on the team in kills (2.95/set) and digs (1.59/set).
Murphy becomes the first Florida player to be named the SEC's Offensive Player of the Week since McGinnis earned that award in week 12 of the regular season last year. She is the first Florida freshman to earn SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors since Aury Cruz did so on Oct. 31, 2000.
The SEC has honored a Freshman of the Week selection since the start of the 2005 season. Since that time, only Murphy and LSU's Marina Skender (Sept. 20, 2005) have captured both the league's Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors simultaneously.
A Florida player has been named the SEC Freshman of the Week in four of the five weeks of the 2008 season and three different Gator freshmen have earned the recognition. Florida becomes the only school the SEC to have three different players earn SEC Freshman of the Week honors in the same season in the history of the award.
Florida leads the league in most SEC Freshman of the Week recipients over the past two years with five honorees since the start of the 2007 campaign.
Murphy and the Gators return to action on Friday when they travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on Alabama. Opening serve between Florida and the Crimson Tide is slated for 8 p.m. EDT in The CAVE. The match will be carried live on ROCK 104 with Tom Collett.
WEEK 5 SEC HONOREES
SEC Offensive Player of the Week – Kelly Murphy, Florida
SEC Defensive Player of the Week – Miranda Kitts, Ole Miss
SEC Freshman of the Week – Kelly Murphy, Florida
2008 SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK HONOREES
Week 1 – Kristy Jaeckel, Florida
Week 2 – Kristy Jaeckel, Florida
Week 3 – Regina Thomas, Ole Miss
Week 4 – Colleen Ward, Florida
Week 5 – Kelly Murphy, Florida
MOST SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK RECEIPIENTS OVER LAST 2 YEARS
Florida – 5
Kentucky – 4
Tennessee – 3
Georgia – 2
Ole Miss – 2
LSU – 1
South Carolina - 1
END OF REPORT
