JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The United Athletic Conference (UAC) has announced its weekly award winners for Women’s Soccer, Volleyball and Cross Country for Monday, October 5.
WOMEN’S SOCCER
Player of the Week: Jessica Baires, Tarleton State
Baires scored the first two Texan goals in Tarleton State's 3-3 draw with Little Rock last Sunday as she found the back of the net in the sixth and 60th minutes.
Defensive Player of the Week: Carolyne Young, Austin Peay
Young helped the Governors to their first conference and road victory since 2024 in Austin Peay's 3-1 victory over West Georgia last Sunday. Young anchored the Govs' back line that limited the Wolves to six shots on goal. Young also scored the opening goal in the match, her first of her career.
Goalkeeper of the Week: Anna Kathryn Harrell, Central Arkansas
Kathryn made a career-high 13 saves in the draw against Abilene Christian, including nine in the second half, and surrendered only one goal in the 1-1 draw on Sunday afternoon.
VOLLEYBALL
Player of the Week: Emma Closurdo, EKU
Closurdo averaged 5.17 kills, 1.17 blocks and 1.00 digs while hitting .446 in two EKU 3-0 sweeps against Tarleton State and UT Arlington. Closurdo matched a career-high 16 kills while hitting .583 against Tarleton State and followed with another 15 kills versus UT Arlington.
Setter of the Week: Kinslee McGowan, North Alabama
McGowan recorded 93 assists in a pair of UAC victories last weekend against West Georgia and Central Arkansas to average 13.29 assists per set. McGowan set a UAC season-high of 55 assists against UCA on Saturday.
Defensive Player of the Week: Ava Martindale, North Alabama
Martindale totaled 46 digs last week to average 6.57 digs per set in North Alabama's two wins. Martindale notched a season-high 26 digs in a four-set victory over UCA.
Freshman of the Week: Kennady Martindale, Central Arkansas
Martindale posted her second and third consecutive games with 16 kills each against West Georgia and North Alabama. Martindale finished the week averaging 4.00 kills per set while recording a .293 hitting percentage.
Cross Country
Men's Runner of the Week: Toby Eaton, UT Arlington
Eaton finished 14th out of 267 competitors in the Men McDonnell Memorial 8k at the 38th Chile Pepper Festival, running the 8k in 24:38.8. Eaton helped the Mavericks finish seventh out of 29 teams.
Women's Runner of the Week: Dorcas Jepkosgei, UT Arlington
Jepkosgei broke the UTA cross country program record in the Harter's Habanero 5k at the 38th Annual Chile Pepper Classic hosted by the University of Arkansas. She ran the event in 15:59.1, breaking the program record that she herself set last season by 10 seconds. Jepkosgei narrowly missed out on the win, finishing in 2nd place behind Arkansas' Braelyn Combe by only a tenth of a second. Dorcas helped the Mavericks finish fourth out of 28 teams.
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About the United Athletic Conference
The newly rebranded United Athletic Conference (UAC) is a competitive NCAA Division I conference sponsoring sixteen (16) sports and championships with nine (9) full member institutions including Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas), the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (Little Rock, Ark.), Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tenn.), the University of Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, Ky.), the University of North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas), the University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, Texas), and the University of West Georgia (Carrollton, Ga.) with the University of West Florida (Pensacola, Fla.) as an affiliate member in football.