Missouri State junior setter Melissa Gmur and junior libero Cara Hackmann each garnered Missouri Valley Conference volleyball awards this week, it was announced by the league office Monday. Gmur is the league’s Player of the Week, while Hackmann earned the Defensive Player of the Week nod for a second week in a row.

    Gmur handed out 50 assists and had 17 digs, both career highs, while guiding Missouri State’s offense to a .289 hitting percentage in Friday’s win over 20th-ranked Wichita State. MSU’s hitting figure was nearly 200 points better than WSU’s opponents averaged on the season (.098), and 85 points higher than the .204 mark that was the previous high for a Shocker foe this year.

    The Central Point, Ore., native also had two kills on four attempts to hit .500 and added a service ace in the match. Missouri State hit above .300 in each of the final four sets of the match behind Gmur’s precision passing, logging attack percentages of .321, .300, .308 and .467 in the last four frames.

    Hackmann had 30 digs for a 6.00 per set average in Friday’s victory over the Shockers. The Washington, Mo., native added two assists, three service aces without an error, and was perfect in 20 serve reception chances. Hackmann stepped up late for the Bears, scooping eight digs in both the third and fourth sets and five in the fifth. Her 30 digs were one shy of a career high, while her three aces matched a career best.

    Gmur is the second Bear to win MVC Player of the Week this season. Calli Norman was honored Sept. 8.

    Missouri State is 10-4 overall, 3-0 in league play and received 10 votes in the AVCA Top 25 Poll this week, good for 38th place. The Bears play Drake (11-5, 2-2 MVC) at 7 p.m. Friday and Creighton (5-9, 2-2) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Valley road matches this weekend.