Senior libero Meredith Murphy earned another achievement in her record-breaking final season as she was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week by the league office on Monday afternoon. Murphy totaled 58 digs and eight assists over the weekend against Memphis and UAB.
This award is the first of the season for the Knights, and the first time a player has been named as the top defender in the league. It also marks the 11th time a member of the team has been honored with a weekly award by the C-USA since 2005.
“Congratulations to Meredith for this honor. She’s been one of the all-time best in this program by breaking the digs record and we just could not be happier for her today,” acting head coach Michelle Chatman said. “We knew this past weekend that UAB liked to move the ball side-to-side when they attacked which meant Meredith was going to have to really stay disciplined on the back row. She was always in the right position.”
Murphy’s stellar defensive numbers helped guide the Knights to a big road sweep over Memphis and also led to a huge rally against UAB that ultimately fell short in five sets. Digging out 42 shots against the Blazers, Murphy was able to land a new career-best in the category and also chipped in on the offensive end with five assists.
For the weekend, Murphy averaged an impressive 7.25 digs per set against the conference opponents and also did not register a single error in 40 serves.
At 4-4 in league play, and 7-13 overall, Murphy and the Knights will look to improve to over .500 on Friday night as they host Southern Miss at 7 p.m.