Texas A&M’s Babers, Aiple Receive SEC Weekly Honors

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Southeastern Conference weekly honors continue to be bestowed upon members of the Texas A&M volleyball team, which is riding an SEC-best eight-match win streak following sweeps against both Missouri and Georgia. Junior middle blocker Jazzmin Babers has been named the SEC Player of the Week for the second time this season and also has garnered SEC Defensive Player of the Week accolades for a third time.

In addition, last week’s SEC Player of the Week Stephanie Aiple (pronounced EYE-plee) collected SEC Setter of the Week honors for a fourth consecutive week, sharing the honor with Alabama’s Sierra Wilson.

Babers, from Bowling Green, Ohio, hit .528 for the week and led A&M with 4.00 kills, 1.83 blocks and 5.08 points per set. In the crucial win against the Tigers, which temporarily moved the Aggies into first place in the league standings, Babers posted a match-high 16 kills while hitting .591, and she also had five blocks to record a match-high 19 points. Babers also helped lead A&M to a dominating win against Georgia with eight kills while hitting .429 and recording a match-high six blocks to finish the match with 11.5 points. Her six total blocks against the Bulldogs gave her 392 for her career, moving her into eighth place in the A&M all-time career records.

Babers, who has started every match (84) of her three-year career, leads the SEC with a .472 hitting percentage in conference matches only. She ranks second in the league with 1.42 blocks per set in SEC matches only, and she is fourth in points (4.34) and sixth in kills (3.55) per set in league play.

Aiple, a sophomore from Round Rock, Texas, averaged 14.75 assists per set last week and also averaged 3.25 digs per set for the week, second-best on the team. Against Missouri, Aiple set an A&M Reed Arena record for assists in a three-set match with 47. Her 47 assists is the most by an A&M player in a three-set match this season, and it also ranks second among SEC players this year. Aiple also had 10 digs against the Tigers to notch her team-leading fifth double-double of the season.

Aiple played only the first set against Georgia and tallied 12 assists while directing the A&M offense to a .609 hitting percentage in the set. For the week, Aiple directed the A&M offense to a combined .310 hitting percentage when she was on the court.

Aiple ranks second in the SEC with 11.55 assists per set for the full season and 11.78 assists per set in conference matches only, while as a team, A&M leads the league in assists both for the full season and in SEC matches only and also leads the conference in kills per set in SEC matches.

Other SEC honorees are Alabama’s Kat Hutson, who was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week, and Auburn’s Brenna McIlroy who was named the SEC Freshman of the Week.

A&M (17-6, 10-2 SEC) hits the road this weekend to take on Ole Miss and Mississippi State, Friday and Sunday, respectively. The Aggies swept both teams earlier this season at Reed.

The match against the Rebels is at 6:30 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center in Oxford, Miss., and first serve of the match against the Bulldogs is at 1 p.m. at the Newell-Grissom Building in Starkville, Miss. Both matches will be broadcast on SEC Network +.

Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M volleyball. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook and on Twitter and Instagram by following @AggieVolleyball.

Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics

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