Fernandez Named Defensive Player of the Year; Watts Named Freshman of the Year; DeMier All-OVC

The Ohio Valley Conference handed out their annual awards, Wednesday evening, and the Murray State volleyball team had three players selected for all-conference honors.

Senior Becca Fernandez earned Defensive Player of the Year honors for a second-straight year and third time overall. She becomes just the second three-time DPOY in conference history, joining Eastern Kentucky's Brittany Nobilio (2004, 2005, 2007).

She's joined in winning a major conference award by freshman Brooke Lynn Watts, who earned Freshman of the Year honors after leading the league in kills per set and was an eight-time Newcomer of the Week winner.

In addition to their honors as the conference's top defensive player and top freshman, Fernandez and Watts were selected to the All-OVC First Team. This is Fernandez's fourth-straight season as an All-OVC First Team Selection

Also landing postseason honors was freshman Bailey DeMier, garnering Second Team All-OVC honors.

Fernandez, a senior from Carol Stream, Illinois led the OVC with 5.50 digs per set and total digs with 583, a season-high for Fernandez and picked up two OVC Defensive Player of the Week awards along the way. The 5.50 digs per set ranked Fernandez sixth in the nation and her 2,555 career digs are seventh-most in the NCAA among active players.

This season, Fernandez broke Murray State's All-Time Digs record, surpassing previous record holder, Kayleah Sauer (2008-11) on Sept. 11 against Georgia Southern. In addition, Fernandez also broke the Racers' Single-Match (3-set) Digs record with a career-high 41 digs on Oct. 1 at Morehead State.

Fernandez is just the fourth player in program in program history to earn Defensive Player of the Year, joining herself (2018, 2020, 2021), Ellie Lorenz (2016), Kayleah Sauer (2009), and Heather Norris (2006).

Watts put together the most prolific freshman season in program history. The Odenton, Maryland native, led the OVC in four major offensive categories, leading in kills, kills per set, points, and points per set. She tallied 485 kills (4.58 per set), most by a freshman in program history, 518.5 points (4.89 per set) while posting a .228 hitting efficiency. Defensively, she tallied 204 digs and 34 total blocks and served 13 aces.

Watts recorded double-digit kills in all but one match, including 34 kills against Georgia Southern on Sept. 11 to set the Racers' Single-Match (4-set) Kills record.

In the 12-week season, Watts won Newcomer of the Week eight times, the most by any player since the introduction of the honor in 2015 and Offensive Player of the Week three times for 11 total honors.

She is the just the fourth Racer to be named as the top freshman and first since Katirah Johnson (2017).

Like Watts, DeMier wrapped up the regular season leading the OVC in her position's major statistical categories, assists and assists per set. The freshman from Bloomington, Indiana dished out 1170 assist, averaging 11.04 assists per set. Her 1170 assists are third-most by a freshman in program history.

DeMier also helped Murray State to a .213 team hitting efficiency, a total that ranks third in the OVC.

She passed out 30-plus assists in all but one match this season and recorded a team-best 12 double-doubles on the year.

Overall, this brings the total number of All-OVC selections for Murray State to 68, including 30 named to the first-team.

The Racers finished the 2021 season with a 17-11 overall record and 11-7 conference record.

Watts and the rest of the Racers will head to Cape Girardeau, Mo. as the #5 seed in the 2021 OVC Volleyball Tournament, facing the UT-Martin Skyhawks in the quarterfinals at the Show Me Center Thursday (Nov. 18) at 3 p.m. CT.

Murray State University Athletics

Fernandez Named Defensive Player of the Year; Watts Named Freshman of the Year; DeMier All-OVC

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Bailey DeMier

Becca Fernandez

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Brooke Lynn Watts

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