BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Senior libero Tara Beilsmith was named the Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the third-straight week, the league announced Monday.
 
For Beilsmith, it is her league-leading sixth OVC Defensive Player of the Week award out of eight weeks this season.
 
Beilsmith led Southeast Missouri women's volleyball defensively with 66 digs and 18 assists (1.80 assists/set) as SEMO went 3-0 this past week with a home win over Little Rock and a series sweep of Southern Indiana. She averaged 6.60 digs per set over the three-match week. 
 
Beilsmith opened the week with 25 digs and seven assists in the Monday meeting with Little Rock on Oct. 10. 
 
She then grabbed 19 digs with six assists in the opener with Southern Indiana on Oct. 14 before wrapping the series with 22 digs and five assists in the finale on Oct. 15. 
 
Beilsmith has registered 20 or more digs in seven of the last eight Redhawk matches. 
 
She ranks first overall in the NCAA and first in the OVC with 479 digs. Beilsmith is also first in the league and second in the nation with 6.22 digs/set. In OVC play, Beilsmith leads the conference with 7.13 digs per set.

For Beilsmith, a Weldon Spring, Missouri, native, the OVC honor is her 12th career weekly laurel and 11th career Defensive Player of the Week. 
 
SEMO next wraps their home-and-home series with travel partner Little Rock Tuesday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Redhawks then host Tennessee Tech Friday and Saturday at Houck Field House in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Match times are set for 6 p.m., CT and 2 p.m.