FRISCO, Texas – Following potentially the best non-conference weekend in program history, which included true road wins over a team receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 in Texas State and a first ever win over LSU, the defending Southland Conference Champion Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team was rewarded with two Southland Conference weekly awards as Kailin Newsome was named the Offensive Player of the Week while Jacqueline Arrington took the Defensive Player of the Week award the conference office announced on Monday.
 
Newsome, a senior outside hitter from Houston, Texas, went on a tear during the week as she averaged 4.5 kills on a .264 attack percentage over the 16 sets she played in during the four matches over the weekend, eclipsing the 1,000 career kill milestone in the process. Against (RV) Texas State on Thursday, she had a season-high 24 kills on 60 total attacks, two assists, and two service aces. She hit for .349 as she got 21 kills against California on Friday. In Sunday's historic win at LSU, she tallied 17 kills on a .255 attack percentage and had an assist. This is Newsome's first Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week award of 2023 and seventh SLC Player of the Week award of her career.
 
Arrington, a senior middle hitter also from Houston, was key at the net in SLU's 3-1 week as she tallied 1.19 blocks per set over those four matches. Her play was especially notable in Sunday's upset of the Tigers as she tallied nine of her nine of her 19 blocks on the week in that match at LSU. She added five blocks in the win at (RV) Texas State before adding two against Cal and three against Abilene Christian. She also had 30 kills over the weekend. This is Arrington's first SLC weekly award as a member of Southeastern.
 
Newsome, Arrington, and the rest of the Lady Lions (6-3, 0-0 SLC) open Southland Conference play on Thursday night to open the Battle for the Boot in Natchitoches, taking on Northwestern State. Opening serve of Thursday night's SLC opener against the Demons (1-7, 0-0 SLC) is set for 7:00 p.m. in Prather Coliseum and the match will be streamed on ESPN+.
 
DIGGIN' IT CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the Southeastern volleyball program are encouraged to join the Diggin' It Club. Lion volleyball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to both the Diggin' It Club and S Club (volleyball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern volleyball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lady Lions Volleyball, follow @LionUpVB or @JWhiteSLU on Twitter, @LionUpVB on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.