GC volleyball star Sarah Stewart received her second Bobcat Athlete of the Week award of the fall season for her performance during the week ending Oct. 17. The grad student first won the award for her play in the week ending Oct. 3.

Stewart, a right-side hitter and outside hitter for the Bobcats, broke the GC record for most kills in a game with 29, helping her team to a huge five-set win against defending PBC champion Augusta University

“I could not do it without anyone on the team,” Stewart said. “We have been playing so well together.”

One of the most important pieces to her squad, Stewart is averaging a team-high 2.9 kills per set this fall. She also holds a .164 hitting percentage in conference play, which marks the third-highest on the team.

Head coach Gretchen Krumdieck reflected on Stewart’s trademark performance at Augusta.

“She didn’t start out great in that set, and she knew it, but she just went out there, and you could tell she was having a lot of fun,” Krumdieck said. “The whole team was having a lot of fun. It was so cool as a coach to sit back and watch.” 

Over the course of her career as a Bobcat, Stewart has also excelled off the court. She made the PBC Team of Academic Distinction last spring, and she was a 2020-21 PBC Bronze Scholar. Stewart, an Exercise Science major, has balanced her academic and athletic responsibilities very well throughout her collegiate career. 

Approaching the finish line of her last season at GC, Stewart expressed gratitude for the program and all it has given her.  

“I am very honored to receive the award again,” Stewart said. “Everyone in the program votes on it, so I am very appreciative to the people who voted for me. I think everyone on our team should be Bobcat of the Week because we are one unit.”  

Krumdieck has seen a huge improvement, not only in Stewart, but in the whole team throughout this season, and she hopes to continue winning more games with her squad.

Krumdieck believes team chemistry plays a major role when it comes to the success and high level of the team.

“You can tell how much they really do like being around each other,” Krumdieck said. “It translates to the court.” 

Stewart mirrored her coach’s take on the team’s camaraderie, emphasizing the importance of enjoying games as a unit.

“I think when we are having fun, we are unstoppable, and that showed in the Augusta game,” Stewart said. “That was by far my favorite experience as a college athlete.” 

The team has four regular season games left on its schedule, and Stewart hopes to continue having in her last few games, regardless of the outcome.

Stewart will return to action with the rest of her Bobcat family when the GC volleyball team visits Lander University for a conference matchup on the road this weekend. They begin play Friday Oct. 5 at 6 p.m.