SEMO volleyball's Jade Mortimer named OVC Co-Defensive Player of the Week

Southeast Missouri State volleyball’s Jade Mortimer was named Ohio Valley Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

The senior libero helped the Redhawks wrap up the weekend with a road win over Eastern Illinois on Saturday, keeping Southeast in the hunt for a berth in the OVC Tournament. The Redhawks swept EIU for the second time this season and earned their first road win.

Mortimer notched 22 digs and had seven assists in Friday’s loss at SIU Edwardsville. She followed up that performance with a match-high 25 digs against the Panthers, averaging 6.71 digs per set during the two-game span.

“This is a well-deserved honor for Jade, who has led this team defensively week after week,” Redhawks coach Julie Yankus said in a news release. “This past weekend she did an amazing job of getting quality digs that would allow our setters to get the ball to our middle hitters. Jade was able to dig just about everything hit into her half of the court, and that really frustrated our opposing hitters.”

It’s Mortimer’s first weekly honor of the season and the third of her career.

Southeast will take on UT Martin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Houck Field House before concluding its regular season against Tennessee Tech on Saturday.