The long-awaited, highly touted, much-anticipated weekly roundup of the players of the week in their respective conferences.
ACC
Nicole Walch is the woman to watch in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The senior outside won the league’s top offensive player honor for the third straight week and fourth time this season after getting 14 kills and seven digs against North Carolina and then 23 kills and 12 digs against N.C. State.
The defensive honor went to Wake Forest libero Caroline Wolf, for her 42 digs against Notre Dame. The top freshman was Aniah Philo, an outside hitter for Louisville who had 27 kills and 16 digs in two matches. The ACC story is here.
Big Ten
Michigan State sophomore middle blocker Alyssa Garvelink was the league’s POW for hitting .588 with double-doubles in both of her matches. The top defensive player was Justine Wong-Orantes, after the junior libero had 43 digs in two big victories. The top setter was Rachel Minarick, a sophomore for Michigan State and the top freshman was Michigan outside Carly Skjodt. Here’s the Big Ten release.
Southeastern Conference
Ashley Dusek of Kentucky took top honors as the sophomore defensive specialist averaged 7.56 digs per set while breaking the school mark with 40 against Auburn. Texas A&M senior middle Shelby Sullivan was top offensive player after getting 22 kills in two matches and hitting. 462. The setter of the week was sophomore teammate Stephanie Aiple and the freshman South Carolina setter Aubrey Ezell. The full SEC release is here.
Big 12
In a week in which she appeared on this site via video chat, Texas senior outside Amy Neal was named the offensive POW for leading the league in kills and points per set and hitting .485.
Caitlin Nolan, a senior libero for Iowa State, was defensive POW, while Jess Schaben, an outside for Iowa State, was top freshman. The Big 12 scoop is here.
Pac-12
Colorado’s Gabby Simpson was the offensive POW, USC’s Taylor Whittingham was defensive POW and Colorado’s Naghede was top freshman.
Simpson, a sophomore outside/opposite had two big matches, with 15 kills in a win over California and 16 more in a win over Stanford. Whittingham, a junior libero, had 26 digs in a win over Arizona State and then 27 more against Arizona. And Abu, a middle, became the first Colorado player ever to win the award since it was started in 2011. She had 12 blocks last week and ranked sixth in the league with 79. The full release is here.
Missouri Valley
Jaelyn Keene, a sophomore middle for Illinois State, was top offensive player after getting 34 kills, seven blocks and hitting .620 in two matches. The top defensive player was teammate Courtney Pence. The junior libero had 46 digs in those two matches. Northern Iowa’s Piper Thomas was top freshman. All the Valley news can be found here.
Mountain West
Top honors went to Boise State senior setter Sarah Baugh on offense and Colorado State senior outside/setter Adrianna Culbert on defense. This link gets you the entire MWC release.
Big West
Hawai’i senior Tai Manu-Olevao was the Big West POW for getting 27 kills in two matches and all-around solid defensive play. The update from the league is here.
Atlantic 10
George Washington junior Chidima Osuchukwu was named POW, George Mason sophomore Sydney Fanoga was top defensive player and La Salle freshman Taylor Hite was top rookie. Read all about it here.
Atlantic Sun
FGCU’s Amanda Carroll and Jacksonville’s Emily Laskelle shared this week’s Atlantic Sun POW award, while FGCU’s Vanessa Benke took home the defensive honor and Carroll was also voted top freshman. The full story is here.
American Athletic Conference
Tulsa senior middle Ashley Hooper was the offensive POW, while Olivia O’Dell, a senior libero for Houston, was top defensive player. The scoop is here.
MAC
Bridget Wilhelm, a senior middle for Kent State, was the MAC East offensive POW. The MAC East defensive POW was Mehgan Lipski, an outside for Buffalo. The MAC West offensive POW was Lauren Zielinski, an outside for Northern Illinois the player in the picture atop this story (courtesy of NIU), and the MAC West defensive POW is teammate Ana Bremerton, an outside hitter who had 52 digs last weekend. For all the East-West MAC scoop, click here.
Southland Conference
Central Arkansas senior outside hitter Heather Schnars was SLC offensive POW while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi sophomore libero Kate Klepetka was defensive POW. The full release is here.
Sun Belt Conference
The SBC belonged to Arkansas State as the Red Wolves’ Markie Schaedig was defensive POW for the third time, Mallory Warrington was top setter for the second time and for the sixth time in a row and seventh overall, Carlisa May was top freshman. All the details are here.
West Coast Conference
Loyola Marymount senior setter Hannah Tedrow averaged a whopping 14.62 assists per set to be named the WCC POW. The full release is here.
Big East
Taylor Louis, an outside for Marquette, took home both overall and freshman POW honors. She had 37 kills in two matches. Read about her week here.
America East
The honors went to Laini Leindecker of Albany as POW, Sarah Ngo of Binghamton as top setter, Maddie Schneider of UMBC as top rookie and Madison Lightfoot of New Hampshire as defensive POW. All the notes are here.
Big Sky
Northern Arizona’s Janae Vander Ploeg has been named the Big Sky Conference POW. The senior outside had 41 kills and 20 digs in two matches. This is her second such honor this season and third overall. The Big Sky link is here.
Conference USA
North Texas’ Carnae Dillard is the offensive POW, the fifth time she’s won a weekly award.Allie Kellerman of Marshall was defensive POW. For the third time this season, Western Kentucky’s Jessica Lucas is the top setter for efficiently guiding the Lady Toppers through its fourth undefeated week in a row, including 15 consecutive victories. Sarah Bell of Southern Miss was top freshman. For all the CUSA scoop click here.
Ohio Valley
Here are the OVC’s best for this week: Southern Illinois-Edwardsville’s Kristen Torre a senior middle, was offensive POW, junior teammate and setter Mallory Mangun was defensive POW, Belmont sophomore setter Emma Price was top setter, and Taylor Smith, an outside for Eastern Illinois, was top freshman. The OVC details are here.
MAAC
Briana Flagg of Siena, Emma Aldaya of Ryder and Claire Archibald of Iona were the league’s POWs. For all the info, click here.
