Alabama’s Krystal Rivers Earns Second-Straight SEC Weekly Honor

Redshirt sophomore Krystal Rivers continues to impress for Alabama as she has earned her second-straight SEC Offensive Player of the Week award, announced by the conference office Monday.

Rivers led the offense in kills for the second-straight week, posting 22 last Wednesday against Georgia and 26 on Sunday against LSU. The 26 kills against the Tigers are her highest in a four-set match so far this season. She also played a key role on defense, posting double-digit digs in each match to earn her fourth and fifth double-doubles of the season. Her 12 digs in the weekend finale against LSU are a new career-high. Combined over the week’s two matches, she had a .400 hitting percentage, 48 kills, 22 digs and seven blocks.

So far this season, Rivers leads the SEC in kills (263), aces (29) and points (317.0) and is second in kills per set (4.38) and aces per set (0.48).

This is Rivers’ second-straight SEC Offensive Player of the Week award, winning it last week for her outstanding play in the final week of the preseason. This is the fifth SEC weekly award of her career, having won Freshman of the Week three times last season.

Rivers’ offensive showcase helped lead the Tide to a 2-0 start to conference play last week, stretching the team’s overall record to 14-2. Alabama has now won nine-straight matches and a win this Friday against Kentucky would mark the third-straight season with a double-digit winning streak. Alabama also set a new Foster Auditorium volleyball attendance record Sunday against LSU, welcoming 1,749 fans in for the four-set victory.

Florida’s Holly Pole was named the Defensive Player of the Week while Missouri’s Sydney Deeken was named the Freshman of the Week.

Alabama continues SEC play this weekend with a pair of road matches, first taking on No. 14 Kentucky (12-2, 2-0 SEC) on Friday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. before heading to Tennessee (7-9, 0-2 SEC) on Sunday, Oct. 5 for a 12:30 p.m. CT match.