Oct. 11, 2004

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Southeastern Conference announced their volleyball Players of the Week on Monday and South Carolina’s Lauren Ford was named Defensive Player of the Week. This marks the first honor for Ford, a junior middle blocker, and it is the first honor for the Gamecocks this season.

The recognition comes off of a 2-0 weekend by USC as they picked up wins against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Ford recorded a career high 13 total blocks in the match against Ole Miss and she also posted a career high three block solos. For the weekend, the Indianapolis, Ind. native had 19 total blocks, the most by any Gamecock player this year.

Ford leads the team with 78 blocks and is averaging 1.44 blocks per game. For the weekend, Ford averaged 2.71 blocks per game and had 19 kills with a .298 hitting percentage. Her efforts helped USC improve to 10-5 overall and 3-3 in the SEC.