Shipes Named SEC Defensive Player of the Week
One day after playing her final match at Barnhill Arena, graduate middle blocker Tatum Shipes has been tabbed SEC Defensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Monday.
The honor is Shipes’ first at Arkansas, the Hogs’ second weekly award this season, and the first Defensive Player of the Week nod for Arkansas since the 2020-21 split season.
Shipes, a graduate transfer from Buford, Ga., has taken the Razorbacks’ defense to new heights this season after finishing the 2021 slate as the SEC’s top blocker at Auburn. Over the team’s three matches last week, Shipes put up 24 total blocks, good for 2.67 per set.
In Sunday’s series finale, Shipes capped off her short but sweet Arkansas tenure in Barnhill Arena with a solo block for a 29-27 third set victory that secured the Hogs’ third consecutive sweep. She had 13 blocks in Sunday’s match, just one shy of her career high and her fourth double-digit blocking performance of the season.
Tatum currently comes in second in the SEC in blocks per set with 1.47, 141 total, with two matches remaining in the regular season.
The Razorbacks travel to Shipes’ former stomping grounds in Auburn, Ala. this week for a pair of contests with the Tigers on Friday and Saturday. The first match is set for 2 p.m. and the second for 7 p.m., with both streamed live on SEC Network Plus.
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