Elliott caps senior season with B1G Player of the Week Honor

Just three weeks ago Angel Gaskin became the first Maryland volleyball player to win any B1G Player of Week Award when she was named co-Freshman of the Week.  I opened the story by noting that when you win, people take notice. I closed the story like this:

Given the progress of the team under Steve Aird and his staff and the incoming talent, Terps volleyball players will likely win more awards sometime down the road.

As it turns out, Terps volleyball fans didn't have to wait for any incoming talent. The Big Ten named Elliott and Minnesota's Sarah Wilhite its co-Players of the Week. Minnesota claimed the outright B1G championship and is moving onto the NCAA Tournament as the number two overall seed while Maryland managed to lock up 12th place in the conference with their back to back wins over Iowa and Northwestern to finish 5-15 in conference play. Still, even a little winning draws attention.

Elliott becomes the first Terrapin to win or share a Player of the Week Award. The redshirt senior from Winston-Salem, North Carolina started the week by registering 20 kills in Maryland's 3-1 win over Iowa on senior while night hitting an impressive .280 for the match. She added eight digs, picked up five of the Terrapins' season high 15 service aces and, for good measure, threw in three solo blocks. The last of those gave her 99 for her career - most in Maryland volleyball history.

But Elliott wasn't quite done. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the Terps traveled to Evanston to close their season against Northwestern and spoiled the Wildcats' senior night with a 3-0 sweep marking the first time the Terps posted back to back conference wins against a team not named Rutgers. Elliott once again led Maryland with 13 kills and hit an even more impressive .310. She dug five balls and also picked up three more aces to finish the season with a team leading 38 tying her for second most in the conference.

Overall, Elliott hit .291 for the week and added 13 digs or 1.9 per set. Her eight aces gave her an average of an astonishing 1.14 aces per set. (For perspective, Penn State's Bryanna Weiskircher led the conference with an average of 0.37 aces per set.)

As she prepares to move on to the next phase of her life, Elliott has her name printed all over the Maryland record book. She finished her Terrapins career as the program leader in career solo blocks (99) and ranked second in career kills (1,424). She also ranks sixth in total attacks (3,438), 10th in hitting percentage (.272), seventh in career block assists (300) and seventh in total career blocks (399).

As is often the case with records such as these someone might come along who erases some of her career marks and passes her on those all-time lists. Future Terps will undoubtedly win more weekly conference awards but Adreene Elliott will always be the first Maryland volleyball player to win a B1G Player of the Week. That distinction can be carved in stone.