DALLAS – After dazzling performances at Pete Mathews Coliseum, Jacksonville State volleyball standouts
Hana Aiana and
Ellie Garrett earned the program's first Conference USA weekly honors on Monday. Aiana was named the CUSA Freshman of the Week while Garrett was deemed the league's Setter of the Week.
"I'm very happy for both of them," head coach
Derek Schroeder said. "They're putting in the work. Ellie's taking the ball high and doing a great job in distributing with speed. Hana's been asked to do a ton as a young freshman, but she's got gift with that hand on the ball and she's putting it to use."
Aiana, a freshman middle blocker from Molokai, Hawaii, turned in two strong outings for the Red-and-White over the weekend. She helped Jax State (4-8, 2-0) to a pair of league sweeps after finishing with 16 kills (2.67 per set), four blocks, four digs, and one assist against Sam Houston. On Friday versus the Bearkats, the Moanalua High School product had four kills, two digs, one block, and one assist in a 3-0 victory. Aiana played a larger role in the Gamecocks' 3-0 win on Saturday, finishing with career highs in kills (12) and total attacks (21) and tallying two digs and three blocks. In addition, she hit .476 against Sam Houston, her second-best attack percentage of the year.
Like Aiana, Garrett scored her first Conference USA recognition on Monday as well. The junior setter and Windsor, Colo., native had 83 assists (13.83 per set) on the weekend to go along with 13 digs, seven kills, five blocks, and two aces. The Eastern Washington transfer ended up with 40 assists, six digs, two blocks, and a career-best seven kills on just 11 swings (.636 hitting percentage) on Friday night against the Bearkats. Garrett then set a three-set career-high with 43 assists the following day, adding seven digs, three blocks, and a pair of aces in another conference sweep. After another solid weekend dishing it out, she now ranks fourth in CUSA in assists per set (9.92).
The efforts of Aiana, Garrett, and the rest of the Gamecocks led Jacksonville State to a couple of massive wins to open Conference USA play. Schroeder's squad is tied for first in the conference with the likes of Florida International (6-9, 2-0), New Mexico State (9-4, 2-0), and Western Kentucky (12-4, 2-0).
"It's a great accomplishment to earn these league honors," Schroeder said. "We're trying to instill in this team a culture that we can win championships in Conference USA with moving forward. Part of that is always being focused, alert, and determined. For us to have the results we had this past weekend and for Ellie and Hana to have the results they had, it had to be that we were on 100% of the time. Had we taken our foot off the gas a little bit at any point, that wouldn't have gone our way."
Jax State returns to action with a pair of league tests on the road later this week. They will take on UTEP (8-5, 0-2) at 7 p.m. CT Thursday before concluding the regular season series versus the Miners at 1 p.m. Saturday. Both contests will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Links to watch or follow along with live stats for both matches will be provided at JaxStateSports.com. In addition, score updates will be posted on Jacksonville State Volleyball's X account (@JaxStateVB).
To stay up-to-date with the Gamecocks, follow their X (@JaxStateVB), Instagram (@JaxStateVB), and Facebook (Jacksonville State Volleyball) accounts.
