Whitesides Earns SEC Offensive Player of the Week Honors

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – Gamecock graduate student Riley Whitesides has been named the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday afternoon. The veteran pin hitter led South Carolina (9-2) to a pair of straight-set victories last week to wrap up non-conference play. This is the first offensive player of the week nod for Whitesides, her previous conference honors came during the 2020-21 season, when she earned freshman of the week three times.

Whitesides’ torrid non-conference season peaked with one of her best weeks as a Gamecock. The Greenville native hit .448 with 36 kills (6.00/set) to help the team sweep East Carolina and in-state rival Clemson and finish the pre-SEC slate at 9-2 overall. In Tuesday’s win over the Pirates, Whitesides hit .615 with 18 kills and added three service aces and six digs in a sweep of the previously unbeaten ECU side. She followed that up with 18 more kills in a road matchup at Clemson, hitting .341 with 15 digs and another ace. In the win over the Tigers, she jumped up to eight place in program history for career kills, now with 1,180.

Whitesides leads the Gamecocks into SEC play in the midst of a career year, hitting over 50 percentage points higher than her previous career best and averaging almost two full kills per set more than she did in 2023. Conference action begins on Friday, Sept. 27 when South Carolina hosts Mississippi State at 7 p.m. in the Carolina Volleyball Center. Broadcast coverage will be on the SEC Network.

For continued updates on the team, follow Gamecockvolley on Twitter and GamecockVB on Instagram.