VIDEO: Julia Wheeler Interview
ROCK HILL, S.C. – For the first time this season, Carson-Newman volleyball has a South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week after a dominating week from Julia Wheeler that earned the redshirt-sophomore the first plaudit of her career announced on Monday.
"The first two contacts have gotten so much better," Wheeler said. "Without that there is no way that I kill a single ball if we don't have great passes and great sets. This week it felt like we were able to connect and do so much more as a team because we worked it out in practice."
In three matches, the Murfreesboro, Tenn. native posted a .297 hitting percentage with 76 kills, 42 digs, 2.5 blocks and two service aces scoring 80.5 points with a double-double in each affair guiding the Eagles to a 2-1 week. She produced three matches with at least 20 kills becoming the first player in recorded history (since 2004) to achieve that mark. There had only been two occasions with back-to-back nights of 20 smashes with Kelli Sorensen producing 20 each against Wingate and Catawba on Oct. 8-9, 2004 and Rachel Harper having 21 apiece against Catawba and Queens on Oct. 4-5, 2013.
"When I am out there I'm trying to limit errors and be as efficient as possible," Wheeler said. "One way that I have stayed super thankful is that God gave me this ability and I am trying everything I can to use it to glorify him and push it all back. Being on a team like this with our potential seeing us reach that puts it all into perspective."
To open the week of play, Wheeler produced 27 kills on a .219 clip with 15 digs and two block assists. The outside hitter reset her career high she joining Molly Locke as the only players with two, 25-kill nights in the same season. The Murfreesboro, Tenn. native tied Locke for the second-most kills in a match since 2004 as Locke also had 27 against Quincy on Sept. 4. Carly Mozgai holds the program record for kills in a match with 29 in five sets on Nov. 12, 2010 against Catawba.
On Friday in a four-set win at Newberry, Wheeler capped the night with 26 kills hitting .333 with 14 digs and a team-high 1.5 blocks. She became the first Eagle in the 25-point rally scoring era with back-to-back matches of 25-plus kills.
Rounding out a dominating five-day stretch, the Volunteer State native wowed again on the floor racking up 23 kills on an eye-popping .367 attack percentage adding 13 digs on the day.
For the season, she has 12 double-digit kill efforts with four cresting the 20 plateau adding six double-doubles. Wheeler leads the league and is 14th in Division II with 270 total kills while her 3.51 kills per set average is good for second, a tenth of a point behind Natasha Bannister from Newberry. Tallying nearly four points per game, she is third in the SAC.
The Tennessee Tech transfer has led the team in kills in 12 of the 20 matches and she has been set 793 times, the most in the league and 16th highest tally in the country.
At this rate, her kills per set average would be good for the fifth-highest during the program's 25-point era and has is closing in on a pace to join the top 10 for single-season kills needed to get to 434 to hit that level. However only two players during the 25-point era are in the top 10 with Mozgai's 480 in 2010 ranking third and Locke's 448 in 2015 ranking eighth.
The Eagles return to action on Tuesday evening playing at 7 p.m. against Lenoir-Rhyne for a match taking place at Holt Fieldhouse. Broadcast coverage airs on cneagles.com/live with a high definition video stream from the Eagle Sports Network.
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