Regional Honors for Bryan Players: National rankings for team
Junior Libero Kathryn Rawley and Freshman MB Amber Smith were named NAIA Region XII Libero and Player of the week for their outstanding play last week, guiding the Lions to a 3-1 record for the week and its first weekend sweep of the season.
The Lions have enjoyed a strong early season, currently holding a 6-6 record going into this weekend's Virginia tour against conference opponents UVA-Wise and Bluefield College. The record is very encouraging, considering the level of competition and the majority of matches being played away from home. The Lions will host their first true home match of the season when Tennessee Wesleyan comes to town for varsity and junior varsity competition next Tuesday, Sept. 19.
The Lions are 2-3 on true away courts, but one loss was a very close 5-game loss at Union, and another was a tightly-contested 3-1 loss at Cumberland. To illustrate how tight these two losses were, the average point differential per game was 2 points (Bryan averaged 25.7 points to their opponents' 27.7 points). 5 games were actually determined by 2, with 3 games going into extra points.
The Lions are 4-2 on neutral courts as well.
The Lions have also played very stiff competition. Of the 12 opponents so far, 7 matches have been against teams currently ranked in the top 10 of their region (4 in the top 5), and one was ranked in the NAIA top 25 until yesterday. The Lions have also not played a true home match yet, losing to Berry at Rhea County High School.
Currently, the Lions are enjoying some early season success. The team is currently ranked #6 in Region XII, its highest in-season ranking since 2002. The Lions are ranked #14 in the NCCAA and #2 in the Mideast Region.They are in the top 10 nationally in 4 statistical categories and #1 in 5 categories in the Mideast.
Players are ranked in the NCCAA top 25 in 6 categories, and 1st or 2nd within the region in those same areas. See below for specific rankings:
Attack percentage: .192, NCCAA #9, ME region #1
Blocking average: 2.6 bpg, NCCAA #9, ME region #1
Assist: 10.45/gm, NCCAA #12, ME region #1
Kills per game: 12.51/gm, NCCAA #9, ME region #1
Digging: 18.13/gm, NCCAA #7, ME region #1
Individual NCCAA National Rankings (ranking # is left of player name)
Attack percentage:
#13 Amber Smith : 130 kills, 42 errors , 264 att, 33.33%
2nd in
Blocking average:
#7 Robin Renfroe: 22 solo, 31assists, 1.18 bpg
1st in
#22 Amber Smith: 15 solo, 30 assists, 1.00 bpg
2nd in
Assist average:
#10 Jennifer Loveday: 410 assists, 9.11 per game
1st in
Kills per game:
#17 Abby Humphrey: 101 kills, 3.37 kgp
1st in region
Ace average:
#19 Amber Smith: 28 aces, 0.62 apg
1st in region