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Kelby Jackson and Maddie Palmer POW

Volleyball

JACKSON, PALMER COLLECT BIG SOUTH ACCOLADES



CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After leading the Radford volleyball team to a pair of victories to stay undefeated in conference play, the duo of Maddie Palmer and Kelby Jackson was rewarded with Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week honors, the league announced on Monday.
 
The two weekly awards give the Highlanders six as a team this season, including five Player of the Week nods in seven opportunities, with Palmer claiming four of them.
 
Jackson garnered the Big South's top defensive award for the first time in her career. It is the second time she has been honored by the conference, joining a freshman accolade in 2013.
 
"Kelby was great defensively for us in both matches," Radford head coach Marci Jenkins said. "Her ability to keep rallies going gave our offense lots of opportunities. Kelby has been in the libero jersey since she was a freshman and has always been one of our hardest working players. It's such an awesome thing for her to be recognized on a weekend when she moved into second place on our all-time digs list."
 
Jackson accomplished that feat by totaling a team-high 37 digs in the victories over Winthrop and Gardner-Webb, giving her 1,486 for her career. She averaged 5.29 digs per set in the two matches and recorded a season-high 25 on Saturday, helping the Highlanders limit Gardner-Webb to a .043 hitting percentage.
 
Combined with the team-high 12-dig outing in the three-set win over Winthrop, Jackson has now posted double-figure totals in each of the last 10 matches and 15 of the 19 this season. The senior from Winchester is currently averaging a career-best 3.74 digs per set, with a team-high 254 on the year. She needs just 21 more to set a new program rally-scoring career record.
 
Palmer, meanwhile, had two more strong all-around performances, highlighted by 41 total kills (5.86 per set) with a .351 hitting percentage. She added 18 digs, six aces and three blocks, while contributing 49 Radford points (7.00 per set). Her 23-kill outing Friday against Winthrop was her second-highest total of the season and came with a .442 hitting percentage.  The Simpsonville, S.C., native followed up with 18 kills against Gardner-Webb, upping her conference-leading 2016 total to 285 – 4.19 per set.
 
"Maddie had two very good matches this past weekend," Jenkins said. "As always, I am happy the league chose her because there are so many very good players in our league this year."
 
Along with leading in kills, Palmer is also atop the league in both aces and points per set, ranking ninth and 20th in the nation, respectively, in those categories.
 
Jackson, Palmer and the rest of the Highlanders (16-3, 7-0) put their seven-match winning streak and perfect conference mark on the line Friday when they begin a four-match road stretch at Charleston Southern.
 
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Players Mentioned

Kelby Jackson

#11 Kelby Jackson

L
5' 5"
Senior
Maddie Palmer

#20 Maddie Palmer

OH
6' 0"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Kelby Jackson

#11 Kelby Jackson

5' 5"
Senior
L
Maddie Palmer

#20 Maddie Palmer

6' 0"
Junior
OH
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