Mira Topic earns Big 12 Volleyball Player of the Week for record fourth time
DALLAS - University of Texas senior outside hitter Mira Topic (Kastela Kambelovac, Croatia) earned her record fourth Big 12 Volleyball Player of the Week honor on Monday for her stellar performances last week, Nov. 8-14. The weekly honor was her fourth of the 2004 season, setting a Big 12 record for league volleyball player of the week honors in one season. She also was named Player of the Week on Sept. 20, Oct. 4 and Oct. 11.
In two matches last week, the 6-3 Topic collected 65 kills and had a .376 hitting percentage on a combined 125 attacks in a 1-1 week for the then-No. 9 Longhorns. She also amassed a pair of double-doubles with 33 kills and 17 digs in a 3-2 victory over No. 13 Texas A&M, and then followed that with 32 kills and a career-high 23 digs in a 3-1 loss at Missouri.
Included in the Missouri match was the 2,000th kill of her career, making Topic just the third player in the history of the Big 12 to reach that milestone. She joins former UT star Dee Sance (2,013) and former Baylor star Elisha Polk (2,272) in the Big 12's 2,000-kill club. With, 2,003 kills on her career, Topic is also now just 11 kills shy of eclipsing Sance's UT career kills record.
The 33 kills against Texas A&M was the third-highest total in UT history and gave Topic possession of first (35 kills), second (34 kills), third and fourth (tied with 32 kills) in the Texas single-match high records. Additionally, the 33 kills tied the highest kill total given up to a single player by the Aggies in their program's history.
For the season, Topic is ranked fifth nationally (as of Nov. 9) in kills per game with a 5.78 mark. She is also hitting .332 on the season, the best mark of her career by 65 points, and is ranked seventh in the Big 12 and is the highest-ranked outside hitter in the category.
Topic also leads the Big 12 in both overall and conference only (6.18) kills/game, and is on pace to finish the season with the highest-ever totals in both categories. She has 15 kill-dig double-doubles on the season and 46 in her career, and now with her pair of 30+ kills last week, has seven such matches in her career.
Topic and the No. 11 Longhorns return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 17, when the team hosts Kansas at 6:30 p.m. in Gregory Gym.
