Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Weekly Release

NEW ORLEANS – After leading the UALR volleyball program to a 4-0 start in conference play, sophomore Edina Begic earned Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Player of the Week honors, while North Texas junior Courtney Windham was named SBC Defensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday.

Begic, a native of Sarajevo, Bosnia, helped UALR claim the top spot in the SBC West with two stellar performances in the home-opening weekend. She began with a season-high .591 hitting percentage against ULM with a proficient 15 kills and only two errors on 22 swings. Begic followed that up with a career-best, and the most in the NCAA this season, 33 kills in 82 swings against North Texas. Her 37 points were also a career high.

The sophomore’s lead nationally continues to rise in both kills (5.45 per set) and points (6.14 per set) and has 19 straight matches, dating back to last season, with double-digit kills. She also added 24 digs against the Mean Green for her 11th double-double of the season in 16 tries.

Begic will look to keep the Trojans undefeated next weekend as they host South Alabama on Friday and Troy on Saturday.

Windham, from Cypress, Texas, became the first middle-blocker to win Defensive Player of the Week honors this season as she posted 17 blocks on the weekend (2.12 per set). She registered a career-best 11 blocks in three sets at Arkansas State, which was the most by any SBC player in a three-setter, and the third most overall.

The junior entered the weekend with a league-best 1.38 blocks per set average, and finished the road trip in the top-ten in NT history in single-season assists and total blocks. With an SBC-high 118 total blocks on the year, Windham already ranks eighth in school history. Her 93 assisted blocks in 2012 are also eighth in NT history.

Windham has guided the Mean Green to wins in seven of their last eight matches, and will look to keep it going this weekend as they battle No. 23 Western Kentucky on Friday and Middle Tennessee on Sunday at home.

Check out www.sunbeltsports.org throughout the week for updated SBC volleyball news, stats and scores.