IRVING, Texas — BYU women's volleyball's Kelli Jo Burgess and Elli Mortensen received Big 12 In-Season Challenge honors, the conference announced Wednesday afternoon.
Burgess was named the league's Defensive Player of the Month, while Mortensen was honored on the Challenge's Starting Seven as one of the two top vote-getters outside of the monthly awards.
Burgess averaged 1.94 blocks per set across the Cougars' nine In-Season Challenge matches, pacing BYU at the net with 60 total blocks.
She helped the Cougars hold opponents to a .158 clip in the month of October, including four teams under a .150 hitting percentage and two inside of a .095 clip. The fifth-year middle also contributed 39 kills during that span, averaging 1.26 per set on a .358 clip.
Mortensen led BYU with 120 kills, averaging 3.87 per set, on a .281 clip during the In-Season Challenge. She recorded four double-doubles during the Cougars' nine games and hit above .300 in four matches as well.
The junior pin also posted 25 total blocks, 10 assists and eight service aces across the month of October.
Both student-athletes received weekly Big 12 honors during the month with the pair sweeping awards on Oct. 6 before Burgess also picked up honors on Oct. 13 and Oct. 27.
No. 8 BYU (18-1, 10-0 Big 12) was also crowned the In-Seasn Challenge champions as a team, going 9-0 in the month of October.
The Cougars out-hit opponents .298 to .158 across their 31 sets played, averaging 14.48 kills per set and 3.06 blocks per set over that span.
View the full Big 12 In-Season Challenge Starting Seven at the conference's website.