Soucie, Havili Earn Final Big 12 Weekly Awards of 2014
LAWRENCE, Kan. – In Kansas volleyball’s regular-season finale, freshman setter Ainise Havili and sophomore middle blocker Tayler Soucie were instrumental in the Jayhawks’ comeback victory against Oklahoma that landed KU a portion of second place in the Big 12 conference standings. Monday afternoon, the duo was named the league’s Freshman and Defensive Players of the Week.
That marks the 10th and 11th weekly awards for Kansas this season, tying the Jayhawks’ 11 total awards in 2013 – which also tied for fifth-most in conference history. On Monday, Soucie was honored for the second time this season, while Havili earned her team-best fourth weekly award.
For the week, Soucie racked up an astounding 19 blocks in two matches for a Big 12-best 2.38 blocks per set. She added a solid 16 kills and one error to finish last week with a .405 attack efficiency. Overall, Soucie’s 1.47 blocks per set leads the conference and ranks ninth in the NCAA.
Against West Virginia, Soucie helped the Jayhawks pull off the sweep with her nine kills and no errors combined with six blocks. Her performance against Oklahoma, however, was record breaking. With one solo block and 12 block assists, Soucie set a new Horejsi Family Athletics Center record for the most blocks in a single home match (13).
Havili continued her reign atop the Big 12, leading all conference setters with 11.25 assists per set last week. Eclipsing the 50 assists mark for her eighth time, Havili dished out 53 assists to power KU to a five-set victory against Oklahoma on Senior Day. In KU’s sweep of West Virginia, Havili setup 37 assists and helped her team to a .358 attack percentage.
A Fort Worth native, Havili added to her record for all-time assists by a Jayhawk freshman, sitting at 1,278 as the NCAA Tournament approaches. That also moved her into 10th all-time on KU’s single-season assists list. For the season, Havili leads the Big 12 in assists (1,278) and assists per set (11.31).
2014 Kansas Big 12 Players of the Week
Sept. 22 – Madison Rigdon (Offensive)
Oct. 13 – Ainise Havili (Rookie)
Oct. 20 –Tayler Soucie (Offensive)
Oct. 20 – Cassie Wait (Defensive)
Oct. 20 – Ainise Havili (Rookie)
Nov. 10 – Tiana Dockery (Offensive)
Nov. 10 – Cassie Wait (Defensive)
Nov. 10 – Ainise Havili (Rookie)
Nov. 17 – Sara McClinton (Offensive)
Dec. 1 – Tayler Soucie (Defensive)
Dec. 1 – Ainise Havili (Rookie)
NCAA TOURNAMENT
Kansas will host Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday, Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m. inside the Kansas Expocentre. Joining them in the bracket are Creighton and Oregon State. The winner will advance to the Ames, Iowa Regional hosted by Iowa State, Dec. 12-13.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
