The Chattanooga volleyball team was well represented in this week’s Southern Conference Player of the Week awards, as both Gylian Finch and Elaine Redman took home Offensive Player and Setter of the Week honors, respectively, as announced by the league office on Monday.
The Chattanooga duo lit up the competition in the team’s pair of road matchups against ETSU and UNCG this past weekend, helping guide the Mocs to a perfect 2-0 record and the team’s first two conference wins of the 2023 season.
For Redman, this now marks the third time this season that she has been recognized as the Southern Conference’s Setter of the Week, having never received the award last season in her first year at UTC.
However, Redman was a MAC West Setter of the Week during her freshman campaign at Toledo, where she eventually went on to be named to the MAC All-Freshman Team before transferring to Chattanooga.
As for Finch, this is her first time being honored by the SoCon in the 2023 season as well as just the second time of her career that she’s received the title of Offensive Player of the Week. The last time Finch received the award was in the final week of the 2019 season, when Finch was only a sophomore.
Finch and Redman are joined this week by Wofford’s Abbey Richman, who received Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Gylian Finch, OH, Gr. – Offensive Player of the Week
Finch proved to be a crucial piece of the UTC offense in the team’s four and five-set victories over ETSU and UNCG over the weekend, as the grad student tallied a staggering 45 kills over the two road matchups. Both matches would also mark double-doubles for the Mount Morris, Illinois, native.
Finch opened her weekend with a team-leading 17-kill night in Johnson City, where she was also able to notch an additional 12 digs. She then followed this up by putting up a monstrous 28-kill, 12-dig performance at UNCG to close out the weekend, which not only marked a new career-high in kills for the grad student but also stands as a new individual match-high for the Mocs this season.
With her 45-kill weekend, Finch officially moved up into fourth on Chattanooga’s all-time kills leaderboard, sitting at 1,228 in her career. The outside hitter also now sits at exactly 1,000 career digs after her pair of 12-dig matches. Finch has logged double-digit kills in six consecutive matches for UTC, along with having double-doubles in each of her last three matches.
Elaine Redman, S, Jr. – Setter of the Week
Chattanooga native Elaine Redman continued what has been a dominant season for the junior setter this past weekend, with the junior logging 98 total assists for the Mocs in the team’s pair of matches against ETSU and UNCG.
Redman opened her weekend with a double-double against the Buccaneers, putting up 48 assists and 11 digs alongside three blocks and two kills. She then carried that momentum into her match against the Spartans, notching a 50-assist performance while tying her career-high of four blocks in the matchup. The junior has now recorded 30+ assists 12 times, 40+ assists eight times and 50+ assists twice in the 2023 season.
With her double-double against ETSU Redman now stands at eight double-doubles this season, marking a new season-high total in the category for her in her career. Her previous best of seven in a season came while she attended Toledo. Redman now sits at 2,406 assists in her collegiate career, with 1,349 coming while with the Mocs and the other 1,057 coming with the Rockets.