There was no doubt who would be the player of the week in the Big Ten after her performances at Texas A&M and Texas that also earned her national POW honors. Wisconsin’s Molly Haggerty also was named the league’s top freshman in a week with plenty of stellar performances.
Among them, New Mexico State junior outside hitter Jordan Abalos averaging 5.6 kills, Quinnipiac junior middle Elizabeth Kloos had 17 blocks last week and Oral Roberts outside hitter Laura Milos won her Summit League’s offensive honors for the eighth time.
You can look forward every Tuesday to the VolleyballMag.com roundup of the POWs around the country.
POWs, of course, are players of the week, and we will do our best to list the honorees from all 32 Division I conferences here.
ACC
Florida State junior outside hitter Milica Kubura after having 27 kills (3.86 kills/set), five digs and three blocks in matches against Florida and LSU.
Pittsburgh middle blocker Layne Van Buskirk was the top freshman. Van Buskirk totaled 26 kills, averaging 2.60 per set, a .444 hitting percentage, and had seven blocks and two digs.
Big 12
Kansas State junior opposite Bryna Vogel is the offensive POW, West Virginia junior middle Mia Swanegan got the defensive honor and teammate Payton Caffrey, an outside, got the freshman award
Vogel broke her career high in kills twice last week, with 18 in a win against Creighton and then 21 in a win over Southern Miss. She hit .444 for the week.
Swanegan had 20 total blocks and averaged 1.54 per set. And Caffrey averaged 4.38 kills per set.
BigTen
Haggerty was lights out in Texas. She had 27 kills at A&M and then 20 more at Texas and hit .387 in the two matches. She is the freshman of the week for the second time.
The defensive POW is Wisconsin teammate Tionna Williams. The sophomore middle averaged 1.8 blocks in those two matches.
And the setter once again is Minnesota sophomore Samantha Seliger-Swenson, who had three aces, 24 digs and 11 blocks to go with 12.9 assists per set.
Pac-12
Utah junior middle Adora Anae is the league’s offensive POW after averaging 6.00 kills per set and hitting .254. She set a Utah single-match school record in rally-scoring era with 31 kills, leading Utes to 3-2 road win at then-No. 9 BYU.
Her teammate, sophomore libero Megan Shughrou, got the defensive honor after averaging 5.00 digs, including a season-high 24 against BYU.
And the freshman is Stanford opposite Kathryn Plummer, after she hit .500, averaged 2.83 kills and 1.50 blocks.
Southeastern
The SEC list has some familiar names. The offensive POW for the second straight week is Alabama senior right side Krystal Rivers, who averaged 6.00 kills per set, had seven aces and was MVP of the Crimson Tide’s home tournament.
There were co-defensive players of the week, Florida junior middle Rhamat Alhassan and Georgia junior libero Cassidy Anderson. Alhassan averaged 1.75 blocks per set, while Anderson had 83 digs in four victories.
The freshman of the week is a repeat in Kentucky outside Leah Edmond, who had 27 kills in two victories.
America East
Two players from Binghamton won awards, Gaby Alicea on offense and Sarah Ngo as the setter. Chloe Evering of Albany and Kristin Watson of UMBC also were honored.
Alicea, a sophomore outside, hit .329 in three matches and averaged 3.00 kills per set.
Ngo, a junior, averaged 10.36 assists and 2.82 digs.
Evering, a freshman outside, was the rookie of the week for averaging 3.42 kills and hitting .310.
Watson, a sophomore libero, averaged 5.27 digs.
American Athletic
The AAC offensive POW is USF junior setter Alex Mendoza, after she was named the USF Classic Tournament MVP after helping the Bulls to a 3-0 record while not dropping a set. She averaged 12.2 assists per set.
The defensive POW is Tulsa senior libero Brooke Berryhill, who had 78 digs and averaged 6.50 digs per set. Berryhill finished with 30 digs against Oral Roberts and added three service aces in a win against Northwestern State.
Atlantic Sun
Amanda Carroll of FGCU, Anaiah Boyer of Kennesaw State and Montana Swanson of USC Upstate were the ASUN POWs.
Carroll, a sophomore outside led FGCU to four wins last week and had 76 kills to go with 14 blocks and 34 digs. She took offensive honors.
Boyer, a junior outside, was top defender after having 10 blocks and 42 digs in four matches. She also had 54 kills and hit .327.
Swanson, a freshman outside had 35 kills in two matches to go with four service aces, two blocks and four assists.
Atlantic 10
Dayton junior middle blocker Amber Erhahon and Saint Louis senior outside Danielle Rygelski were co-POWs, while VCU junior Rebekah Strange earned defensive honors and Dayton freshman outside Jamie Peterson was selected top rookie.
Erhahon averaged 3.55 kills per set and 1.00 blocks per set.
Rygelski recorded 86 kills over 16 sets for an average of 5.38 kills and hit .249 for the week.
Strange was a stellar libero who averaged 5.60 digs. And Peterson averaged 2.50 kills and 1.00 blocks.
Big East
Taylor Louis, a sophomore outside for Marquette had a big week and was the Big East POW after averaging 5.70 kills per set to lead the league. Louis was MVP of the Marquette Invitational as the Golden Eagles went 3-0 against Iowa State, Milwaukee and Missouri State as she hit .278.Louis is second in the league overall in kills per set (4.50) and points per set (5.10), both runner up to Butler’s Anna Logan.
The freshman of the week is again Creighton outside Megan Ballenger, who averaged 2.29 kills and 1.36 digs per set and hit .280.
Big Sky
After each being named MVPs at their respective tournaments, Northern Arizona senior Lauren Jacobsen (offensive) and Weber State senior Megan Thompson (defensive) were the Big Sky Volleyball POWs.
Jacobsen totaled 85 kills (4.72 per set) with a .318 hitting percentage and three double-doubles.
Thompson totaled 32 blocks over three victories, averaging 2.67 per set to go with 32 kills on and a .458 hitting percentage to lead WSU to its best start in school history with a 9-0 record.
Big West
Two UC Davis teammates were honored, but first up is Nikki Taylor of Hawai’i, who is having a heck of a season. The senior is the Big West POW after averaging 3.86 kills, 2.71 digs, 0.86 blocks and 1.57 service aces per set in back-to-back victories over visiting Pepperdine.
UC Davis freshman libero Heather Reed is the defensive POW after averaging 5.14 digs per set to help the Aggies post a 3-1 record for the week and was instrumental in the program’s first win over an AVCA Division I Top 25 team since 2013, and just the third in school history.
And another UC Davis freshman, Lauren Matias, is the freshman of the week after the outside averaged 3.07 kills, 0.64 digs and 0.79 blocks per set and hit .241 hitting.
Colonial Athletic Association
The CAA offensive POW is William & Mary freshman setter Autumn Brenner. She had 185 assists over four matches. She also had 34 digs and six blocks.
The defensive player was UNCW junior middle Sydney Brock, who last week was the offensive POW in the league.She averaged 2.08 blocks per set, including a a career-high 10 blocks in a five-set defeat at Duke and nine blocks in a 3-1 win at NC State. Brock is currently ranked second in the CAA with 1.18 blocks per set.
The CAA rookie is Hofstra freshman Laura Masciullo, an Italian who averaged 3.77 kills per set and also had 20 digs, four service aces and three blocks.
Conference USA
After clinching her third tournament MVP award this season, UTSA’s Dajana Boskovic was named C-USA offensive POW for the third time, while teammate Jessica Waldrip snagged C-US setter honors.
Marshall’s Allie Kellerman brought home her second C-USA defensive POW award this season, keyed by a team-high 67 digs last week. Southern Miss outside Catherine Repsher earned C-USA freshman honors.
Boskovic, a senior outside, hit .338 and had 10 blocks to go with 5.07 kills per set.
Kellerman, the senior libero, averaged 5.15 digs.
Waldrip, a senior setter, averaged 11.0 assists to win the honor for the first time this season but sixth overall.
Repsher hit .478 and had 17 blocks, 1.28 per set.
Horizon League
Junior libero Jesse Thornton of Wright State had 61 digs to earn POW honors.
Ivy League
Columbia sophomore Luciana Del valle and Princeton freshman middle Maggie O’Connell were named player and rookie of the week, respectively,
Del valle, who is from Peru, had 34 kills, 27 digs, seven total blocks, four assists and four service aces, while hitting .319 in three matches.
O’Connell had 33 kills, two digs, two total blocks and one assist, while hitting .433.
Metro Atlantic
Quinnipiac junior middle Elizabeth Kloos is the offensive POW, Ryder junior libero Emma Aldaya is the defensive POW and Quinnipiac freshman setter Maria Pansari is the rookie of the week.
Kloos hit .383 and had 17 blocks and seven aces.
Aldaya averaged 4.00 digs per set, while Pansari averaged 10.86 assists, breaking 50 twice.
Mid-American
The MAC East offensive POW is Kent State senior middle Drew Norberg, who led the Golden Flashes with 34 kills (3.09 per set) and a .409 hitting percentage while adding seven total blocks and hitting at least .353 in all three matches.
The MAC West offensive POW Brooklyn Goodsel. The Ball State sophomore outside had a .308 (43-11-104) attack percentage and averaging 3.58 kills and 1.92 digs per set.
The MAC East defensive POW is Bowling Green senior libero Madeline Garda. She was named the MVP of the UIC Invitational and Garda, the best libero in the country according to digs/set, totaled 92 digs on the week. Garda is now averaging a nation-best 6.50 digs/set.
The MAC West defensive POW is Ball State freshman libero Kate Avila. She averaged 5.17 digs per set and logging a .966 (56-for-58) reception percentage.
Mid-Eastern
Howard junior Khaila Donaldson continues to rule the MEAC. The junior outside was again the POW after double-doubles against Penn State and Rhode Island and reached 1,000 kills in her career.
The defensive POW is Morgan Marlbrough, a senior libero for Howard, who averaged 4.07 digs. The setter was teammate Tamia Dockery, who had 115 assists, 21 digs, seven kills and two blocks.
And the MEAC rookie was Coppin State’s Dominique Maldarang, a setter who had 86 assists, 32 digs, six kills, five blocks and two aces.
Missouri Valley
Illinois State junior middle Jaelyn Keene is the MVC player of the week. Her team was unbeaten and she had 46 kills (4.18 per set) on a .557 hitting percentage to go with 14 blocks (1.27 per set) and 16 digs (1.45 per set), as well as five service aces. Keene tallied 15 or more kills and hit over .500 in all three matches over the weekend. The junior leads the Valley in hitting percentage (.466), while also ranking in the top 10 in points (3.70 per set) and aces (0.39 per set).
The defensive POW is sophomore teammate Courtney Pence, who turned in a record-breaking performance in Illinois State’s MVC opener at Northern Iowa. The libero had 44 digs in the Redbirds’ five-set win, the most in Illinois State history and second-highest total in a match between MVC foes. Pence also had 87 digs (7.91 per set) and 12 assists (1.09 per set).
The league’s top freshman was Wichita State libero Giorgia Civita, who averaged 5.09 digs, 1.27 assists and 0.36 aces.
Mountain West
The offensive player is Deja Harris. The San Diego State sophomore middle averaged 3.11 kills and hit .545 over nine sets.
The defensive player is Boise State junior libero Maddi Osburn, who averaged 4.56 digs and a .986 reception percentage in 71 attempts in 16 sets.
Northeast
Kirstyn Sperry, Bryant’s sophomore setter, was the POW after she averaged 6.85 assists, 2.62 digs and 1.69 kills per set, including a pair of double-doubles with 23 assists and 15 digs in a 3-1 win over GMU, and 29 assists and 10 digs in a straight set victory over Loyola.
St. Francis junior libero Jenna Veres averaged 6.33 digs per set to get defensive honors..
And the league rookie is LIU Brooklyn freshman setter Amanda Hubbard after averaging 9.27 assists and 3.00 digs.
Ohio Valley
There were co-offensive POWs, Austin Peay sophomore outside Cecily Gable, and Eastern Kentucky sophomore right side Cassie Knutson.
Gable set her career high in kills three times last week and was named the MVP at The Citadel’s Bulldog Invitational. She finished the week with 64 kills and a .314 hitting percentage.
Knuston had 32 kills and a .411 attack percentage. She also had seven digs, five assists, two service aces and two blocks.
The defensive POW is Eastern Kentucky junior libero Mallory Maxwell. She had 59 digs in three matches.
The setter is Austin Peay sophomore Kristen Stucker, who averaged 11.1 assists per set.
And the newcomer is Austin Peay junior outside Kaitlyn Teeter, posted double-digit kills in all five of her matches last week.
Patriot
The POW is Aleksandra Kazala, a sophomore outside for American who hit .379 and finished the week with 68 kills (4.86 k/s), 29 digs (2.07 d/s), eight aces, and eight total blocks.
The Patriot rookie is Shannon Webb, her freshman teammate. The outside finished the week with 42 kills (3.00 k.s), 40 digs (2.86 d/s), six aces, four blocks, and hit .202.
Southern
Samford outside Erin Bognar was the SoCon offensive POW after averaging 4.56 kills per set while hitting .261 at the UTA Invitational
The defensive player is Mercer libero Tori Penrod. She averaged 5.23 digs per set, while finishing with no fewer than 20 digs in each match. Penrod currently ranks second among SoCon players in digs per set with 5.13, which is on pace for a career high.
Southland
Stephen F. Austin junior outside hitter Abby McIntyre was named offensive POW while Central Arkansas junior middle blocker Megan Nash got defensive honors.
McIntyre had 11 kills and hit .429 against UIW and the next night against North Texas had 13 kills and hit .522.
Nash had 17 blocks in 11 sets. She had 12, four solo, sixth-most in school history, against UNC Asheville.
Southwestern
Got nothing.
Summit
Oral Roberts outside hitter Laura Milos was the offensive POW for the eighth time, while Ellie Benson, a South Dakota State libero, and South Dakota senior middle Lindsey Brown shared defensive honors.
Milos had 20 or more kills three times and averaged 5.31 kills.
Benson had 32 digs against North Dakota, tying a school record. Brown had eight block assists against Lamar and averaged 1.44 blocks.
Sun Belt
South Alabama freshman outside Iva Durdanovic was both the offensive and freshman POW as she recorded double-doubles in two of three matches as she had 15 kills and 11 digs, as well as three service aces, in a five-set win over McNeese, then 16 kills and 12 digs and a .448 hitting percentage against BCU and finished up with a career-high 22 kills, eight digs and one block assist against Georgia.
Teammate Abby Baker, a junior libero, was the defensive POW as she came up with 70 digs in 12 sets, including a career high with 34 digs in the Jags’ win over McNeese.
Arkansas State senior setter Mallory Warrington averaged 11.80 assists per set and had 15 kills, 36 digs, six blocks, and a service ace in four matches.
West Coast
Loyola Marymount junior outside hitter Sarah Sponcil has picked up where she left off last year and for the second time this season was the MVP of a tournament, which resulted in her being the WCC POW.
She had 37 total kills (4.11 per set) while hitting .453 over 64 swings with just eight errors. Sponcil added two aces, 23 digs (2.56 per set) and two block assists.
Also Nominated: Amy Boswell, BYU; Emily Baptista, Pacific; Paige Folger, Gonzaga; Nikki Lyons, Pepperdine; Emily Reed, San Francisco; Lauren Schad, San Diego; Hannah Troutman, Portland.
Western Athletic
New Mexico State junior outside hitter Jordan Abalos earned her first WAC POW honor.
She was named MVP of the Brown Invitational after averaging 5.60 kills on .431 hitting, 3.80 digs and 0.40 service aces per set. She currently leads the WAC in service aces per set (0.36), ranks second in double-doubles (nine), third in both kills per set (3.66) and points per set (4.15), and sixth in both hitting percentage and digs per set (3.43).
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield’s Marina Sanches averaged 3.33 kills on .361 hitting and 0.67 blocks … Megan Klavitter of Chicago State averaged 3.43 digs and 2.00 assists … UMKC’s Kaylyn Brandt averaged 9.28 assists, 2.45 digs and 0.60 blocks … Matea Mamic of Seattle U averaged 4.60 kills, 2.40 digs, 0.60 blocks … UT Rio Grande Valley’s Ragni Steen Knudsen averaged 4.62 kills and 2.00 digs per set … Nakisha Willden of Utah Valley averaged 4.31 digs and 0.92 assists per set.
