We really enjoy watching Penn State’s 6-6 Fr. MH Katie Slay.  We love her enthusiasm.  We love her intensity.  We love how she puts up a force field at the net that rejects (in our mind’s eye) every ball hit her way.  And we love how she seems to grow as a player every week. 

So we were really pleased when the Big Ten recognized her terrific play last weekend by naming her Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and Big Ten Freshman of the Week.  This was the first time Slay received either of these career honors (fellow freshman 6-1 OH Deja McClendon has been named Big Ten Freshman of the week three times).   For the link to the Big Ten’s press release, Click Here.

What did Slay do to merit the honors?  Well, in Penn State’s sweep of Michigan in Ann Arbor last Friday, she had 10 total blocks — tied for the fifth-highest single-match total in the Big Ten this season — which helped Penn State limit Michigan to .069 hitting for the match.   Saturday night, against Michigan State, she added six more blocks in Penn State’s 3-1 win over the Spartans, giving her a weekend total of 16 blockes (2.3 bps).   Although Slay has been viewed more as a defensive player, with her offense a work-in-progress, that progress began to show last weekend, as she totaled 17 kills (and a stellar .593 attack %) for the two matches.

Congratulations Katie Slay.  And apologies for our delay in posting this.