BIDDEFORD, Maine – Suffolk volleyball received a pair of weekly awards from the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) as Kenzley Bell was named Libero of the Week and McKenna Keowen picked up rookie of the week, the league office announced Monday.
The accolades come on the heels of a week that featured the Rams first-ever CCC win, a straight set victory at Western New England, and a pair of hard-fought battles to regional rivals Emmerson (L, 3-0) and Colby (L, 3-2).
Bell had three straight matches with double-digit digs leading to a 5.09 digs per set average. Her best performance of the week came in a three-setter against Emerson in which she had 20 pickups. She nearly had back-to-back 20-dig outings, but fell just one shy in the five-set thriller against Colby. To open the week, the junior from Lake Park, Georgia, recorded 17 digs in a sweep of Western New England.
Keowen logged a pair of double doubles over the week for Suffolk. Her first came at Western New England. In the three-set conference triumph, the outside hitter registered 11 kills and 13 digs. She followed that up with another 11-kill, 11-dig outing at Emerson. The San Ramon, California product wrapped off the week with a 20-kill, seven-dig effort in five sets versus Colby. Over the three matches, she averaged 3.82 kills and 2.82 digs per set and hit .187.
The pair of awards brings Suffolk's yearly total to six. Keowen has four weekly honors to her credit this season, which ties a program record set by Harmony Johnson, who collected four GNAC Rookie of the Weeks nods in 2019. Bell, meanwhile, earned her first career weekly award and is the second Suffolk student-athlete to be tabbed libero of the week by the CCC this season following Morgan Kelsey's recognition Sept. 20.
Suffolk returns to action tomorrow, Tuesday, Oct. 19, when it wraps up a five-match road swing at the University of New England. First serve in Biddeford, Maine, is on tap for 7 p.m.