The Southeastern Conference has named Georgia volleyball junior middle blocker Sophie Fischer the first SEC Player of the Week of the 2022 season.
“Sophie had a great opening weekend and she’s just scratching the surface of her potential here at Georgia,” said head coach Tom Black. “The sky is the limit for her!”
Fischer, a native of Fort Mill, South Carolina, made her Georgia debut over the weekend, putting up strong numbers for the Bulldogs. On the net, Fischer averaged 2.14 blocks per set (15 blocks in seven sets played), the best average of any player in the SEC on opening weekend. Her efforts on defense held Georgia’s opponents to a .058 hitting percentage in three matches.
In Friday’s season opener against Troy, Fischer broke Georgia’s rally scoring record for blocks in a three-set match, putting up 11 against the Trojans. The previous record of nine was set in 2015 by Desiree McCary. On Saturday, she added one block in one set played against Chattanooga and three in the sweep of Santa Clara that evening.
As a team, Georgia recorded 27 blocks in nine sets, averaging 3.00 blocks per set, second in the SEC.
Offensively, Fischer laid down eight kills against Troy and totaled 15 (2.14 kill/set) on opening weekend, hitting .310 out of the middle.
This is Georgia’s first SEC Defensive Player of the Week since Kacie Evans earned the award on Nov. 23, 2020.
Georgia opened the 2022 campaign with three sweeps at home to go 3-0 in the Classic City Clash. This is the first time the Bulldogs have opened the season with three wins since 2018 and the first with three sweeps since 2017, Black’s first season as head coach, when Georgia put together five-straight sweeps to open the season.