ST. LOUIS – Senior middle blocker
Raylyn Dodd and freshman setter
Shannon McLain have been named American Midwest Conference (AMC) Volleyball Players of the Week, along with Columbia's Olivia Skipworth, the league office announced Monday. The No. 8-ranked Spartans have monopolized the AMC Volleyball weekly awards, taking home five out of the six available honors during the past two voting periods.
Dodd and McLain represent the fourth and fifth different Spartans to be named an AMC Player of the Week this season joining outside hitter
Isidora Stojovic, setter
Manuela Vargas and libero
Ariana Macies.
In the Spartans' lone match last week, Dodd overwhelmed Central Baptist (8-6, 3-2 AMC) with error-free hitting, a match-best and season-high 11 kills, and tied for a match-best 3 blocks. With a hitting percentage of .647, the AMC Attacker of the Week helped bump the Spartans' team percentage to .313, which now ranks No. 1 in the NAIA. Dodd currently among the NAIA's top blockers ranking 14
th overall in blocks per game (1.21).
With 2018 NAIA First Team All-American and AMC Setter of the Year
Manuela Vargas unavailable for fall AMC contests due to an intraconference transfer rule, MBU hasn't missed a beat with
Shannon McLain directing the Spartan attack. Against the Mustangs, McLain dished out a career-high 34 assists (11.33 a/s) and tied for a team-high 7 digs. The freshman's performance last Tuesday helped deliver MoBap's fifth straight sweep and fourth time in five matches with a hitting percentage above .400.
The Spartans will look to extend their winning streak to seven as they return to action tomorrow at Hannibal-LaGrange University (2-7, 1-3 AMC) at 7 p.m. HLGU's current spectator policy for indoor sports prohibits visiting spectators and general public from attending.