October 9, 2008

Jessica Howard, Volleyball

Augusta State volleyball's Jessica Howard is this week’s Jaguar Of The Week.

A junior middle blocker from Athens, Ga., Howard was named the PBC’s Player-of-the-Week Monday afternoon after leading the Jaguars to a 3-0 victory over first-place Francis Marion on Wednesday, Oct. 22 in Christenberry Fieldhouse.

The POTW award is the fourth of her career for Howard, the 2006 PBC Freshman-of-the-Year. Her four weekly awards are the most ever by a Jaguar volleyball player since ASU joined the Peach Belt Conference for the 1991 season.

Howard hit .363 with 3.75 kills per set in two matches last week. She began with 11 kills and a .450 hitting percentage with five blocks in an upset sweep of Francis Marion, then had 19 kills while hitting .310 with seven blocks in a loss to Catawba on Saturday, Oct. 25.

Against FMU, the junior had three solo blocks to go along with a pair of assists. She currently leads the PBC and ranks 20th nationally in blocks per set at 1.14. She also paces the conference with a 3.66 kills per set average, which is good enough for 28th in the latest NCAA statistics. In addition, she ranks fourth in the PBC and 49th nationally in hitting percentage at .329