Lawson and Viers Capture AAC Volleyball Weekly Honors

September 10, 2007

Wise, Va. – After two impressive Appalachian Athletic Conference volleyball victories last week, UVa-Wise has two conference players of the week in Britney Lawson and Natasha Viers. Lawson paced the defense with three 30 digs matches while Viers downed 31 kills in each of the wins over Milligan and King for Libero of the Week and Player of the Week.

For the week, the Lady Cavs (7-6) went 2-0 in the wins over the league foes before going 2-2 and taking third at the Washington & Lee Tournament over the weekend.

In the five matches, Lawson had her best week of her collegiate career. The junior from Rye Cove, Va. made the AVCA Honor Roll three times with three efforts of 30-plus digs. Lawson set a career-best 37 digs in the victory over King College to go with 37 over McDaniel and another 30 against Southern Virginia. For the week, the defensive specialist posted 167 digs and a 6.68 digs per game average. She paces the Lady Cavs 307 digs for the season and 5.90 per contest.

The driving force of the two league victories a week ago was Viers. The Abingdon, Va. product produced back-to-back 31 kill matches, a career-best mark, with a .420 hitting percentage in the wins over Milligan and King. Viers became the first 1,000 career kill player in program history against King. The senior followed with three double figure kill matches in four outings over the weekend to be selected to the Washington & Lee All-Tournament team. The veteran player totaled 106 kills in 24 games for a 4.42 kills per game average. Viers added 63 blocks, 19 digs and four service aces in the six matches. On the year, the middle hitter has 208 kills, 4.16 kills per game and hitting .297 in 50 contests.

UVa-Wise will have the week off before a three match weekend of AAC road games. It will face Bryan College Friday night at 7:00 p.m. before taking the court against both Covenant and Tennessee Wesleyan on Saturday.