Bradley University Athletics issued the following announcement on Nov. 8
Senior outside hitter Hannah Thompson has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week and freshman Silan Demirkol was selected as the MVC's Freshman of the Week for the second time this season according to an announcement by the league office Monday afternoon.
Bradley has a pair of MVC Weekly award winners for the first time since Sept. 24, 2018 when Thompson garnered one of her five MVC Freshman of the Week honors that season and then senior Yavianliz Rosado was named the MVC Defensive Player of the Week.
The duo helped Bradley (15-11 overall, 11-4 MVC) move into second in the Valley standings with a pair of home wins over Indiana State and Evansville this past weekend to wrap up the home schedule. The Braves now own a season-long, six-match win streak, which matches the longest single-season win streak in MVC play in program history.
Thompson, who has earned MVC Player of the Week honors twice in her career in addition to her five MVC Freshman of the Week honors in 2018, was selected as the MVC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career. The outside hitter averaged an impressive 5.14 digs per set to go with 0.43 blocks per set and also boasted a 97 percent serve receive percentage in the two wins.
Thompson had a match-high 22 digs along with two block assists in Friday's sweep of Indiana State and also had seven kills, one assist and one ace as the Braves held the Sycamores to their lowest attack percentage of the season. Her 22 digs tied for the seventh-best total at Bradley in a three-set match and also rank as the most in the league in a three-set match in MVC play this year.
Saturday against Evansville, Thompson had 14 digs and a solo block in addition to collecting 12 kills in a four-set victory. She notched her 1,800th career dig against the Aces, along with the 1,300th kill of her career as she became the third player in MVC history with 1,300 career kills and 1,800 career digs and the first player nationally to reach those marks since 2003.
Averaging 2.17 kills and 2.37 digs per set on the year, Demirkol joined Thompson and Courtney Keefe (2011) as the only Braves to win multiple MVC Freshman of the Week awards. She averaged a team-best 3.43 kills per set, while attacking at a .290 clip and also collected 2.71 digs and 0.43 blocks per set in the two contests.
Demirkol opened the weekend home stand with a season-best and match-high 16 kills in a sweep of Indiana State, hitting .412 against the Sycamores and adding six digs. Saturday she nearly collected her third double-double of the year, finishing with eight kills, 13 digs and three blocks in a four-set win over Evansville.
Bradley returns to action Friday, opening a three-match road swing Friday with a 6 p.m. match in Chicago, Ill., at league-leading Loyola.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up