Morrison named GNAC Red Lion Offensive Player of the Week

October 10, 2012

University Relations

Jamie Foland
474-6807

Freshman middle blocker Megan Morrison (Spring Hill, Fla./Springstead) has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Volleyball Red Lion Offensive Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday morning.

“It's a great honor,” head coach Phil Shoemaker said. “I'm a little surprised because I know there were some great performances around the league last week. I certainly think she had worthy competition but she took a big step last weekend and was certainly instrumental in our win on Saturday night. We're counting on good progress over the course of the rest of the season with her and with the team. It's a good sign.”

Morrison turned in team-bests of 20 kills, a .269 hitting percentage and nine total blocks in the Nanooks' split against then No. 16 Western Washington and Simon Fraser. In Saturday's 3-1 victory against SFU, the Florida native produced career and match-highs of 15 kills and seven blocks (one solo) while also hitting .353.

“Seven blocks in a three or four set match is a great performance for anybody,” Shoemaker said. “We knew coming in that Megan had a great presence in terms of personality and physicality on the court. Once again, it's good to see her grow.”

For the week, Morrison tripled her season kill total as she entered Thursday with only 10 terminations, doubled her blocks total from nine to 18 and had a hitting percentage nearly 300 points higher than her previous season average.

Joining Morrison on the Player of the Week list was Seattle Pacific's Shelby Swanson, who was named Defensive Player of the Week. She tallied 67 assists and 23 digs to help the Falcons to a pair of 3-0 sweeps on the road at versus Western Oregon and Saint Martin's.

The Nanooks continue GNAC play this week on the road as they take on Montana State-Billings on Thursday at 5 p.m. (AKDT) and Seattle Pacific on Saturday at 2 p.m. (AKDT).