Strickland, Kabala Earn Weekly GAC Accolades
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference announced its weekly volleyball awards for week five of the 2023 season, and East Central University volleyball's
Emma Strickland and
Julia Kabala were selected for the Offensive and Setter award on Monday.
Strickland and Kabala earn their first weekly honors of the season after leading the Tigers to an undefeated week of conference play against in-state foes Southeastern and Northwestern.
During those wins, Strickland rang up 40 kills, a 5.71 per-set average, and an attack mark of .545. The Mansfield, Texas native posted a team-high kills in both contests with her best performance coming against Southeastern with 24 kills and only two errors for a .647 attack percentage. The junior outside hitter also highlighted the 3-0 sweep over Northwestern by recording her 1,000
th career kill in the three-set match. Strickland is just the second player in ECU history to reach 1,000 career kills and she did so in the fastest time.
As for Kabala, the Tiger setter finished the week with 91 assists for an average of 13 per set. She was also solid defensively registering 17 digs and eight total blocks. The junior from Warsaw, Poland had a double-double against Southeastern with a career-high 55 assists, good for No. 5 on the ECU Individual Match Record, and 10 digs. Kabala's efforts currently place her No. 4 in the GAC in assists (7.95) as well.
ECU volleyball will be back in action Oct. 5 and 6 with their first Arkansas road trip of the 2023 season to face Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas at 6 pm and 4 pm, respectively.
