Ruprich Earns Second SEC Freshman of the Week Honor of the Season

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball earned its second honor from the Southeastern Conference in as many weeks, with Ellie Ruprich earning the Freshman of the Week award on Monday afternoon. The Beverly Hills, Mich. native previously earned Freshman of the Week honors on Oct. 19, making her the first Gamecock in program history to earn the award twice in their debut season. Through six weekends of competition spanning the fall through the spring, South Carolina has collected four weekly awards – one shy of matching a record for most in a season that the 2019 team reached.

Already an established blocker in her first collegiate season, Ruprich had perhaps her best weekend yet on offense to help the Gamecocks win a pair of matches over Mississippi State at home last week. It started with an efficient eight kills on nine swings without an error (.889) in Thursday night’s sweep of the Bulldogs, a game where she also added three blocks. In Friday’s rematch, she set career highs with 12 kills and 25 attacks in the five-set win. In the eight sets combined against Mississippi State, Ruprich hit .529 and averaged almost a full kill per set more than she had entering the weekend. Through her first 12 collegiate matches, she leads the team in blocks (57.0) and ranks fourth in kills (76) with a team-high .326 hitting percentage.

“She’s going through the process the right way, her setter is putting her in great situations … but she’s going into it with the right mindset, taking what the block gives or taking what the defense gives her,” head coach Tom Mendoza said following her performance Thursday night. “Obviously no errors is great, we don’t want those risky shots where it’s half the time it’s a kill or half the time it’s an error. It means she’s looking for the right swings. Anytime we can use these teachable moments in positive reinforcement that’s always a positive thing. Great players can do this for long stretches of time and I think Ellie has that capability.”

The Gamecocks wrap up a stretch of four home games in a week’s span when it welcomes in Texas A&M Feb. 10 and 11. The Aggies have yet to play a spring game; their first series against Auburn was cancelled after the Tigers opted out of spring play, and COVID testing protocols forced them to postponed their home weekend against Tennessee Feb. 5-6. Texas A&M went 4-4 in the fall season, starting 4-0 before ending the schedule on a four-game losing streak. Both games between Carolina and A&M will start at 7 p.m. with Wednesday’s game airing nationally on the SEC Network.