BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Tennessee volleyball’s Paityn Chapman and Caroline Kerr garnered SEC honors after helping the Lady Vols post back-to-back straight-set wins last week, the league office announced Monday afternoon.
Kerr earned SEC Player and Setter of the Week accolades, while Chapman received SEC Freshman of the Week accolades. For her career, Kerr now boasts 13 weekly conference honors after garnering 11 recognitions last season. This marks the third time she earned both SEC Player of the Week and SEC Setter of the Week honors.
The duo led Tennessee to a pair of sweeps against No. 25 UCLA and LIU last week. The Lady Vols jumped out to a hot start against the Bruins and never looked back the whole weekend. Against the Sharks, the Big Orange defense held LIU to just 15 kills and -.052 hitting. It marked the fewest kills allowed by the Lady Vols in a match in more than a decade (12 by Tennessee Tech on 8/29/14) and was the lowest hitting percentage allowed since Marshall hit for -.054 on Sept. 15, 2017.
A native of Champaign, Illinois, Kerr recorded 73 assists, 14 digs, four aces, three kills and three blocks for the week. She helped the Big Orange offense hit .368 and 51 percent of her sets led to kills for the Lady Vols. The redshirt sophomore setter ranked second in the league for the week in assists per set (12.17) and was third in aces per set (0.67).
Kerr’s top performance came against the Bruins, as she posted an all-around effort with 38 assists, eight digs, three blocks, two kills and an ace. Against the Sharks, she ended with 35 assists, six digs and a team-high three aces.
A native of Castle Rock, Colorado, Chapman had 16 kills on .314 hitting, seven digs, six blocks and one ace combined during the Lady Vols’ straight-set wins against 25-ranked UCLA and LIU. Her most notable performance of the week came against the Bruins, when she tallied 11 kills on .333 hitting, five digs, one ace and one solo block. She opened the match with the hot hand, scoring three of the first five points for the Big Orange and finishing with six kills in the opening set to swing the momentum in favor of the Lady Vols early.
Against LIU, Chapman posted a season-best five blocks to go along with five kills and two digs. For the week, she averaged 3.42 points, 2.67 kills, 1.17 digs and 1.00 blocks per set.
Up next, the Lady Vols take on Western Kentucky on the road Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. ET. That match will be streamed on ESPN+.
