Elyse Cusack Named SEC Defensive Player of the Week
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 | Volleyball
AUDIO: Click here to listen to Coach Wise speaking about Elyse Cusack following Saturday's match at Pacific.
Senior Florida libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) has been named the Southeastern Conference's Defensive Player of the Week for her strong performances in a trio of matches against Florida State, No. 11 Stanford and Pacific this past week, the league offices in Birmingham, Ala., announced Tuesday.
Cusack earns the honor for a league-leading 10th time in her career and for the first time this season after garnering the honor four times last year. A Florida player has been named the SEC's Defensive Player of the Week 20 times since the award was introduced during the 2003 season and the Gators have earned more Defensive Player of the Week honors than any other team.
Cusack was named the Most Valuable Player of the 31st Annual Community Bankers Classic, averaging 4.22 digs per set in helping the Gators to wins against No. 11 Stanford and Pacific in back-to-back nights.
Cusack finished the week, which included a 3-2 win against intra-state rival Florida State, averaging 4.07 digs per set and 1.21 assists per set.
This past weekend, Cusack moved into the SEC's all-time top-five for career digs and now has 1,713 scoops for her career. She became the first player in school history to eclipse the 1,700 career digs mark and has recorded double-figure digs in each of the team's five matches this year, including a season-high 22 digs against Stanford.
Cusack passed for a .978 efficiency during the week's three matches, committing just two reception errors in 91 reception attempts to anchor a steady Florida serve-receive, and had a perfect 1.000 reception percentage in 27 attempts in the Gators' thrilling five-set win against Stanford.
Cusack and the Gators return to action this weekend when they travel to Tampa, Fla., to participate in the Tampa Twice Tournament hosted by the University of South Florida. Florida will face host South Florida at 8 p.m. ET Friday and No. 3 Washington at 6 p.m. ET Saturday.
For all of the latest information on Florida Volleyball, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/volleyball. Follow the Gators on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorZoneVB and Coach Mary Wise on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorMary.
The University of Florida is home to the 2009 NCAA Volleyball Regional. For ticket information, log on to www.GatorZone.com/tickets.
SEC VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (WEEK 2)
SEC Offensive Player of the Week: Brittnee Cooper, LSU
SEC Defensive Player of the Week: Elyse Cusack, Florida
SEC Freshman of the Week: Amanda Anderson, Arkansas
INDIVIDUAL CAREER SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS (ALL-TIME)
- Elyse Cusack, Florida – 10
- Amy Pauly, Alabama – 6
- Elena Martinez, LSU – 5
- Chloe Goodman, Tennessee – 4
- Ivana Kuzmic, LSU – 4
ALL-TIME SEC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS BY TEAM (BEGAN 2003)
- Florida – 20
- LSU – 16
- Tennessee – 11
- Alabama – 8
- Arkansas – 7
- Ole Miss – 4
- Georgia – 4
- South Carolina – 2
- Kentucky – 2
- Auburn – 1
END OF REPORT
