SPARTANBURG, S.C. - With the first official matches of the Volleyball regular season completed, the SoCon announced its first set of weekly award winners. Among the honorees was Chattanooga's Caiti Barthel, who was named Defensive Player of the Week. This marks the third time the Indianapolis native has won this award in her career after earning it twice last season. 

Playing at home to start the season at the Chattanooga Classic, Barthel led the Mocs' defensive efforts throughout the weekend. The senior tallied 59 digs across three matches, more digs than any other player in the conference to start the season. She also held a stout 5.43 digs per set mark. 

Barthel's most notable performance of the weekend came against Valpo where she brought in 28 digs. In Chattanooga's other two matches against Tennessee State and UAB, Barthel had 12 digs and 19 digs, respectively. To go along with her impressive defensive numbers, the senior also had 13 assists and five service aces for the weekend. 

Moving forward, Barthel and the Mocs return to the court on Friday at the Noona Kennard Invitational to take on UT Martin and weekend hosts, North Alabama. Chattanooga wraps up the Invitational on Saturday afternoon against Jackson State. 

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