Sept. 4, 2012
St. LOUIS-- Missouri State junior setter Carly Thomas was honored as the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week Tuesday (Sept. 4), marking the fourth time in her career that she has won the league's top weekly volleyball award.
Thomas set career highs for assists in each of the three match lengths last week, recording 47 in three sets against Austin Peay, 59 in four sets versus Arkansas-Little Rock and 61 in five sets against Oral Roberts.
The Swansea, Ill., native averaged 12.8 assists per set in four matches, well beyond her MVC-leading average of 11.23 last season, along with 3.53 digs per set and 1.0 kills on .310 hitting, all while guiding MSU to a .229 team hitting percentage and 15.2 kills per set.
Thomas started her weekend with a career-best 61 assists and 14 digs against ORU, then posted 59 assists, eight kills and a career-high 24 digs against UALR, just the 15th match of 50 assists and 20 digs in MSU history and the third of her career. She closed the weekend with 47 assists in a sweep of Austin Peay to earn all-tournament honors at Missouri State's University Plaza Invitational.
The Bears (3-4) play at 22nd-ranked Kansas State at 6 p.m. Wednesday before hosting UConn, Nebraska-Omaha, New Orleans and Northern Illinois in the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn/Doubletree Hotel Invitational Sept. 7-8 at Hammons Student Center.
