BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – LSU sophomore outside hitter Gina Tillis was named the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Week the league announced today after averaging over five kills and six points per set in a pair of matches last weekend.
Monday’s announcement marks the first weekly award for the Rockwall, Texas, native this season and the second of her career after being named the SEC Freshman of the Week in October of last season. It’s the second conference award for a Tiger this year, following Haley Smith who was named the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week in September.
Last Friday night against the Georgia Bulldogs, Tillis produced one of the best matches of any player in a Tiger uniform in over 20 years as the Rockwall Heath High School product paced the Tigers to a comeback, five-set win in Athens by finishing the match with 37 kills and 19 digs with a .453 hitting percentage. The 37 kills is the most ever by an LSU player in the rally scoring era, most for a player in a five-set match and the second most all-time in a match. The 19 digs for the sophomore was also a career high.
With her output, Tillis put away the most kills for any player in the SEC this season, as her 39 total points is also the most in 2015 in the Southeastern Conference. That kill total is also second-best in the nation after the weekend, as she is one of 20 players in the country this season to finish a match with at least 30 kills.
Two days later, Tillis came back to lead the Auburn match with her second consecutive double-double as she had 20 kills and 11 digs against the Tigers, ending the weekend as the only player to finish with double figure kills in both matches. Out of the 10 sets she played in, she finished three with a maximum of nine kills, while having no less than six in seven of the sets, accounting for 60 of LSU’s 134 total points on the weekend.
By Sunday, Tillis finished the weekend averaging 5.70 kills and 3.00 digs per set against Auburn and Georgia, earning 6.00 points per set. She is currently seventh in the league in kills per set, as her 4.87 kills per set average in league matches is second overall.
LSU will be back in action on Wednesday night at 8 p.m., hosting the Tennessee Volunteers inside the Maravich Center. The match will be televised live on ESPNU.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger volleyball, visit www.lsusports.net/volleyball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsuvolleyball along with @lsuvolleyball and @lsucoachfran on Twitter and @lsuvb on Instagram.