NEW ORLEANS – Texas State’s Janell Fitzgerald, Jacqueline Lee and Emily DeWalt swept the Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Player of the Week honors following a split at South Alabama this past weekend in a battle between the top-two teams in the Sun Belt West. For DeWalt, it is her sixth Sun Belt Setter of the Week accolade of the season and the 24th of her career.
Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week
Janell Fitzgerald, Texas State
(Sr., Mansfield, Texas)
Bobcats’ senior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald turned in back-to-back season-best performances against South Alabama. She led the Sun Belt Conference with 6.0 kills per set and 58.0 total points (6.44 points per set) as Texas State split a pair of matches in Mobile. Fitzgerald recorded the top-two kill performances of the weekend within the Sun Belt Conference with 26 kills against South Alabama on Friday before charting 28 kills on Saturday. Fitzgerald’s 54 total kills on the weekend are the most by a single Sun Belt student-athlete this season against the South Alabama defense. Fitzgerald capped Friday’s four-set win over South Alabama with 26 kills on a .364 attack percentage, while also having 15 digs and six blocks for her eighth double-double of the season. Less than 20 hours later, Fitzgerald recorded her ninth double-double with her 28-kill, 17-dig performance against the Jaguars.
Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week
Jacqueline Lee, Texas State
(So., The Woodlands, Texas)
Bobcats’ sophomore libero Jacqueline Lee recorded one of the best two-match defensive performances in Texas State volleyball history during the program’s split at South Alabama over the weekend. She finished the two-match stretch with a Sun Belt-leading 6.11 digs per set with 55 total digs. Lee, who entered the weekend having been the Bobcats’ starting libero over the last five matches, turned in a then-career performance with 23 digs in Texas State’s four-set win over the Jaguars on Friday night. On Saturday, she finished with a career-high 32 digs, just five shy of tying the program’s single-match record of 37 in 2013. Her 32 digs during Saturday’s five-set match are tied for the most of any SBC student-athlete in the league against a conference foe this season. Lee also added seven assists and four service aces to her stat line.
Volleyball Setter of the Week
Emily DeWalt, Texas State
(Sr., Helotes, Texas)
Bobcats’ senior setter Emily DeWalt turned in back-to-back 40-plus assist performances in a pair of matches at South Alabama, en route to becoming the Sun Belt Conference’s new career assists leader. With her 47-assist outing on Saturday, DeWalt passed Middle Tennessee’s Leslie Clark (2006-09) for the top spot and went on to become the first setter in league history to surpass 5,700 career assists. In Saturday’s five-set match, DeWalt finished with 47 assists, the second-most in a single match this past weekend. She also totaled 43 assists in a four-set match on Friday. DeWalt was instrumental in guiding Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week Janell Fitzgerald to a conference-best 54 kills and 6.0 kills per set.
2022 Sun Belt Volleyball Offensive Players of the Week
Week 1 – Miëtte Veldman, James Madison
Week 2 – Mia Wesley, Southern Miss
Week 3 – Mia Wesley, Southern Miss
Week 4 – Hannah Maddux, South Alabama
Week 5 – Hannah Maddux, South Alabama
Week 6 – Ella Saada, Coastal Carolina
Week 7 – Julia Brooks, Troy
Week 8 – Ella Saada, Coastal Carolina
Week 9 – Janell Fitzgerald, Texas State
2022 Sun Belt Volleyball Defensive Players of the Week
Week 1 – Kara Barnes, Louisiana
Week 2 – Kaitlyn Gehler, Marshall
Week 3 - Lina Perugini, Coastal Carolina
Week 4 – Cami Hicks, Louisiana
Week 5 – Megan Harris, Southern Miss
Week 6 – Rachel Hickey, South Alabama
Week 7 – Rachel Hickey, South Alabama
Week 8 – Megan Harris, Southern Miss
Week 9 – Jacqueline Lee, Texas State
2022 Sun Belt Volleyball Setters of the Week
Week 1 – Emily DeWalt, Texas State
Week 2 – Kailey Keeble, South Alabama
Week 3 – Emily DeWalt, Texas State
Week 4 – Emily DeWalt, Texas State
Week 5 – Teresa Atilano, Old Dominion
Week 6 – Emily DeWalt, Texas State
Week 7 – Emily DeWalt, Texas State
Week 8 – Amara Anderson, Troy
Week 9 – Emily DeWalt, Texas State