EUGENE, Ore. – On the strength of their individual efforts in the Ducks’ 2-0 home weekend, Georgia Murphy and Mimi Colyer have been named the Pac-12 Defensive Player and Freshman of the Week, respectively. Murphy collects her third-career honor while Colyer ties the Pac-12 record with a sixth selection as top freshman.
Colyer is now tied with past USC standout Ebony Nwanebu (2013) who also won six Freshman of the Week awards. The win for Murphy is the program’s 11th defensive weekly honor.
Oregon, up to No. 14 in Monday’s release of the AVCA Top 25 and No. 12 in the latest NCAA RPI, had victories over then-No. 19 Washington and Washington State this past weekend at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks are 17-5 overall and 11-3 in Pac-12 play, and have won seven in a row.
Murphy averaged 4.86 digs per set during the 2-0 home weekend. In the opener she picked up 15 digs to go along with four assists in a straight-set win over No. 19 Washington. She helped Oregon hold the Huskies to a season-low .152 hitting percentage, more than 140 points below their season average.
The UO libero followed up with a 19-dig effort in a four-set victory against Washington State. With her fifth dig of the match, she became the sixth player in program history to reach 1,400 career digs.
In her role within the Ducks’ reception game, Murphy helped initiate the offense to the tune of a .343 hitting percentage during the weekend including a .402 efficiency against the Huskies. The Woodlands, Texas, native is currently sixth in the Pac-12 with 3.82 digs per set this season.
Colyer averaged 6.07 points per set and hit .345 while averaging 5.57 kills per set in the two victories. She put down a match-high 14 kills while hitting .310 in a sweep of Washington, coupled with four digs and two blocks.
The Lincoln, Calif., native capped the weekend with a 25-kill, nine-dig performance in the four-set win over Washington State. She finished the match with a .364 hitting percentage on the way to tying her season—and career—high in kills. The 25 kills are tied for the third most in a four-set match by a Pac-12 player this season.
This weekend marks the eighth and ninth outings for Colyer with double-digit kills paired with a .300 or higher efficiency. The UO freshman is up to third in the Pac-12 with 4.75 points per set.
Following its home weekend, Oregon travels to the mountain schools for its penultimate road trip of the regular season. The Ducks…
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