BATON ROUGE — After having back-to-back career performances, LSU sophomore Brittnee Cooper was named the Southeastern Conference Volleyball Player of the Week as the Tigers moved up two spots to No. 20 in the AVCA/CSTV Coaches poll, it was announced on Monday.
This is the first career Player of the Week honor for Cooper. The Houston native helped lead LSU to a pair of wins on the road, knocking off Auburn in four games before becoming the first team to sweep Georgia this season for just its fourth loss of the year.
Against the Tigers on Friday, Cooper tied her then career high with 14 kills, while also hitting at a .417 clip, her second best hitting percentage of the season. The middle blocker followed that up with 16 kills and a .545 hitting percentage, both career bests, against the Bulldogs. In addition, she tied for the match high with four blocks against Georgia.
For the week, Cooper averaged a team-best 4.29 kills per game while leading the team with a .478 hitting percentage and 4.86 points per game. For the season, she is ranked second on the team and sixth in the SEC in blocks per game. In addition, she is third on the team in hitting percentage and kills per game.
The No. 20 national ranking marks the 21st consecutive week the Tigers have been among the Top 25, the longest streak since being ranked for 52 straight weeks from 1989 through 1993. The No. 20 national ranking in the highest for LSU this season after starting the year at No. 23.
Florida remains the highest ranked team in the SEC, staying at No. 6 this week after remaining undefeated at 13-0. The Tigers are the only other team ranked or receiving votes in the poll from the conference. LSU is scheduled to face Tulane, which is among the programs receiving votes, in the regular season finale on Nov. 24.
LSU returns home this weekend to take on Alabama and Mississippi State. As part of October’s Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Tigers are holding “Dig for the Cure” promotions throughout the month, kicking off with the match against the Crimson Tide on Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. The first 200 fans receive a FREE Piggy Bank to collect change in throughout the month before donating the money at the “Dig for the Cure” conclusion against Arkansas on Oct. 19. All fans wearing pink will get into the match for FREE and both teams will wear special pink shirts for warm-ups prior to the contest.
LSU and Mizuno are encouraging youth volleyball teams to come to the match as part of “Mizuno Team Day” against Mississippi State on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 1:30 p.m. Local teams get into the match for FREE with “Advocate” tickets available through the LSU Promotions Office at (225) 578-8960. In addition, the first 100 fans will receive FREE wristbands. Senior citizens will also get into the match for free as they can spend the afternoon watching volleyball and playing bingo.
2007 CSTV/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll
Rank
School (First-Place Votes)
Total Points
2007 Record
Last Week
1
Nebraska (50)
1490
12-0
1
2
Stanford (10)
1450
14-0
2
3
Penn State
1369
12-2
3
4
Southern California
1282
13-1
4
5
UCLA
1241
13-2
5
6
Florida
1207
13-0
6
7
Texas
1144
8-3
7
8
Washington
1097
14-0
8
9
Wisconsin
1026
12-1
9
10
California
920
10-4
10
11
Minnesota
899
11-3
12
12
Hawai’i
795
11-3
13
13
Duke
747
10-3
14
14
San Diego
713
11-4
15
15
Dayton
593
17-0
16
16
Michigan
528
13-3
11
17
Kansas State
514
13-3
18
18
St. John’s
469
19-2
19
19
Oregon
434
14-2
21
20
LSU
300
13-2
22
21
Ohio
276
11-4
17
22
New Mexico State
239
13-3
24
23
BYU
198
10-4
23
24
Cal Poly
102
9-7
20
25
Colorado State
74
10-4
NR
Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Middle Tennessee 72; Sacramento State 70; Oklahoma 50; Missouri State 46; Long Beach State 33; Pepperdine 32; Louisville 22; UNLV 14; Iowa State 12; Tulane 11; Wichita State 9; Miami (OH) 4.