SIUE's McDonald, LeMasters earn OVC weekly honors

EDWARDSVILLE – SIUE volleyball standouts Rachel McDonald and Ellen LeMasters were selected as the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week and the Newcomer of the Week, respectively.

After winning a pair of homecourt matches this past weekend over UT Martin and Southeast Missouri, the Cougars improved to 3-1 in league action behind the play of McDonald and LeMasters.

McDonald, a sophomore from Cold Spring, Kentucky, became the first SIUE player since 2011 to record 20-plus kills and 20-plus digs in the same match. She finished with 24 kills and 21 digs against UT Martin. On Saturday, she added a 19-kill, 16-dig effort against Southeast Missouri.

For the week, McDonald hit .320 with a team-leading 43 kills (5.38 per set) and a .417 kill percentage. She averaged 6.25 points per set for the Cougars.

LeMasters set a career high with 15 kills in the four-set win over Southeast Missouri. The Cougar freshman from Greenwood, Indiana, now has double-digit kills in four of her last five matches.

She finished the week with a .420 hitting percentage and a .500 kill percentage, averaging 3.44 points per set.

SIUE next heads to Murray State for a 7 p.m. match Friday followed by a 1 p.m. contest Saturday at Austin Peay.

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