USC Women's Volleyball Player Alex Jupiter Named 2010-11 Honda Sports Volleyball Award Finalist
LOS ANGELES -- Junior two-time All-American outside hitter Alex Jupiter (Paris, France/Redondo Union HS) is one of four finalists for the 2010-11 Honda Sports Volleyball Award. All NCAA senior women administrators will decide the winner, which will be announced January 11. Jupiter is vying to become just the third USC player to win the award (Debbie Green in 1977-78 and April Ross in 2003-04).
Jupiter was named a finalist along with Blair Brown (Penn State), Juliann Faucettte (Texas) and Carli Lloyd (California). American Honda will donate $1,000 to each of the school’s women’s athletic fund with the winner’s program receiving $5,000.
This season, Jupiter was named AVCA All-America first team and AVCA All-Pacific Region after leading the USC women's volleyball team to a 29-5 overall record and trip to the NCAA Final Four in Kansas City. It was USC's sixth Final Four appearance in 11 seasons and the Trojans' first appearance since 2007.
She had 532 kills (4.40 kps) this season while hitting .299 with 38 service aces (0.31 saps), 304 digs (2.51 dps), 77 blocks (33 solo, 0.64 bps) and 625.0 points (5.17 pps). For Pac-10 Conference matches this season, Jupiter recorded 326 kills (4.47 kps) while hitting .298 with 19 aces (0.26 saps), 182 digs (2.49 dps), 50 blocks (19 solo, 0.68 bps) and 379.5 points (5.20 pps).
With 1,404 kills, she will need only 12 kills to break into the top ten for career kills at USC next season and will have a chance to break the record of 1,799 kills, set by Jennifer Kessy (1995-98). She is currently fourth all-time at USC with a 4.08 kills-per-set career average. With 83 career service aces, she will need just 13 next season to break into USC’s career aces list. Her 1,636.0 career points are the second-most in school history and she should easily break the record of 1,689.5 points, held by Keao Burdine (2001-04), next season. Her 534 kills place her fourth on USC’s single-season list while her 625.0 points place her third on USC’s single-season list. Her 5.17 points-per-set average this season places her fifth on USC’s single-season list.
Jupiter had 16 double-doubles this season and 12 in 18 Pac-10 Conference matches. She was named to the 2010 All-Pac-10 Conference Team, the second straight year she received the honor. She finished 11th in the nation for points per set and 15th for kills per set.
In four postseason matches prior to the national semifinal with Cal, Jupiter had 75 kills (5.00 kps) while hitting .330 with 35 digs (2.33 dps), nine blocks (0.60 bps) and 83.5 points (5.57 pps). She registered a double-double against No. 3 seed Stanford in the Dayton Regional final with 23 kills and 15 digs while hitting .290 against the Cardinal and earned NCAA Dayton Regional all-tournament team honors. She had 16 kills and hit .464 with four blocks in the first round match against New Mexico and then led with a match-high 23 kills with six digs and a .362 hitting clip in the four-set win in the second round against No. 18 San Diego.
She was named Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week and Pac-10 Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season on Nov. 1 after she recorded 42 kills in wins at home against Washington State and then-No. 7 Washington. She became the first player in the history of the USC women's volleyball program to earn national player of the week honors twice in a season.
She became the sixth player in USC history to earn AVCA National Player of the Week honors on Sept. 6 after earning most outstanding player honors at the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic in Honolulu (Sept. 3-5). She also was named Pac-10 Conference Player of the Week, the first time she earned that honor. She posted 49 kills (4.45 kps) in three matches against three teams that were receiving votes in the coaches' poll with four aces, 26 digs (2.36 dps), 10 blocks (0.91 bps) and 61.0 points (5.55 pps). She did not have one reception error in 58 attempts on the weekend. Against New Mexico, she had 10 kills, seven digs and three solo blocks in a 3-0 sweep. In another 3-0 sweep, this time against Michigan State, she had 17 kills and six blocks while hitting .483 (17-3-29). In the tournament finale against No. 4 Hawai'i, she had 22 kills and 16 digs in a five-set win over the Rainbow Wahine.
