Very soon the SEC should be naming their annual player of the year awards. Tennessee has two players with legitimate chances to walk away with one of the honors. Here is how they stack up with what I see as their main competition.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

We all want to see our sophomore libero, Chloe Goldman, take home this award. But she is going to have some major competition. In any other year being the first underclassman and only the third person to ever reach 600 digs in SEC history would probably have been enough. Unfortunately for Goldman, two other conference players reached that mark this year as well! What are the chances of no one getting 600 digs in 20 years and then three people doing it in the same year?!

Chloe Goldman, Tennessee, sophomore
	OVERALL	SEC
mp/gp (record)	28/109 (11-17)	20/81 (6-14)
top 25 opponents (record)	5 (2-3)	3 (1-2)
total digs	607	464
digs per game	5.57	5.73
25+ digs	11 times	9 times
30+ digs	5 times	5 times
35+ digs	3 times	3 times
40+ digs	1 time	1 time

Elena Martinez, LSU, junior
	OVERALL	SEC
mp/gp (record)	30/119 (24-6)	20/79 (15-5)
top 25 opponents (record)	2 (0-2)	2 (0-2)
total digs	680	451
digs per game	5.71	5.71
25+ digs	12 times	7 times
30+ digs	6 times	4 times
35+ digs	1 time	1 time
40+ digs	1 time	1 time

Elyse Cusack, Florida, sophomore
	OVERALL	SEC
mp/gp (record)	27/90 (26-1)	20/66 (19-1)
top 25 opponents (record)	2 (2-0)	1 (1-0)
total digs	478	348
digs per game	5.31	5.27
25+ digs	4 times	3 times
30+ digs	0 times	0 times
35+ digs	0 times	0 times
40+ digs	0 times	0 times

Based on her team’s winning of the West Division and her breaking of the season digs record, I’m going to (sadly) predict this award goes to Elena Martinez.

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FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

This will most likely be a race between the only two players in the SEC to be named the Freshman of the Week three times each this season.

Nikki Fowler, Tennessee
	OVERALL	SEC
mp/gp (record)	28/109 (11-17)	20/81 (6-14)
top 25 opponents (record)	5 (2-3)	3 (1-2)
kills	354	295
kills per game	3.25	3.64
total attacks	1044	835
hitting percentage	.194	.222
assists	87	62
service aces	26	17
digs	274	210
total blocks	97	70
double-doubles	11	11
triple-doubles	1	1
10+ kills	20 times	18 times
15+ kills	10 times	8 times
20+ kills	4 times	4 times
25+ kills	1 time	1 time

Lauren Rapp, Kentucky
	OVERALL	SEC
mp/gp (record)	31/120 (22-9)	20/82 (13-7)
top 25 opponents (record)	3 (1-2)	3 (1-2)
kills	291	210
kills per game	2.43	2.56
total attacks	713	492
hitting percentage	.261	.289
assists	59	43
service aces	37	18
digs	166	125
total blocks	133	82
double-doubles	1	1
triple-doubles	0	0
10+ kills	14 times	11 times
15+ kills	2 times	2 times
20+ kills	0 times	0 times
25+ kills	0 times	0 times

Due to her overwhelming numbers and despite the team’s record compared to the competition, I’m going to predict this award goes to Nikki Fowler. But keep in mind I may be a little biased in this matter!

I worked pretty hard to ensure these numbers were accurate, but there was a ton of data to sort through so it’s possible an error may have slipped through… probably not though! - UPDATE: OK there was an error! I’ve updated the number of non-SEC top 25 teams Florida has played.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 12:02 am.