Amanda Orchard Named ACC Player of the Week
11/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
ACC VOLLEYBALL: ORCHARD AND KEARNEY EARN WEEKLY HONORS
PITTSBURGH - Junior middle hitter Amanda Orchard has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Week, as announced by the conference office on Monday. This marks the Panthers first ever ACC volleyball weekly honor.
"After the type of weekend Amanda had, this is a well-deserved honor for her," said Pitt head coach Dan Fisher. "Having no errors in two games is something very difficult to do at any level. She has been our most consistent offensive player all season and is definitely one of the best middles in the entire ACC. I am very proud of her."
This past weekend, the ACC leader in hitting percentage knocked down 15 kills on 27 attempts to record a .556 hitting average without committing a hitting error.
Orchard began the weekend recording seven kills on 11 attempts (.636 hitting percentage) in a sweep over NC State at home. On top of her outstanding attack, the Lake Zurich, Ill. native also notched two service aces and four blocks.
On Sunday in Charlottesville, Va., the junior tallied eight kills on 16 attempts to hit .500 on the day, marking her 13th match this season where she has hit .500 or better and 20th of hitting .400 or better.
Orchard also added a service ace and three blocks in the win at Virginia.
On the season, Orchard is hitting .430 to lead all of the ACC in hitting percentage and ranked 11th in the NCAA this past week in that same category (.421). She is currently second on the team in total blocks (88) and fourth on the team in kills (209) while notching 60 digs and 18 service aces.
"I am so proud of this team and the way they came out and played this past weekend," said Orchard. "This is such a great honor and I could not be more grateful. I couldn't have played the way I did if it wasn't for my teammates so hopefully we can continue to have the success we had this past weekend during the rest of the season."
With the regular season winding down, Pitt will return to the court for its final two games this Wednesday, Nov. 26 and Friday, Nov. 28 against Louisville and Notre Dame respectively. Both matches are set to begin at 4 p.m. and the Louisville match-up will broadcast live on ESPN3.
Keep up with everything Pitt volleyball related by visiting PittsburghPanthers.com or by following the team on Twitter at @PittVolleyball.
