East Division Offensive Player of the Week
Maigan Larsen, Kent State, Sr., OH, Lancaster, Wis./Lancaster
Larsen helped the Golden Flashes to a Mid-American Conference weekend split, leading the squad with 43 kills (4.30 per set) and a .320 attack percentage. She has reached double digits in each of the last three matches and a team-high 19 times in 2011. Larsen piled up 27 kills to lead the match and match her career high as Kent State dug deep and tapped into its five-set magic once again, outlasting Eastern Michigan, 3-2 (18-25, 25-19, 25-19, 18-25, 15-12), Saturday (Nov. 5). Two days earlier at Ohio, she helped the Flashes push the MAC East Division champions to five sets, leading the squad with 16 kills. Larsen leads the team for the season with 378 kills (3.38 per set) and 428 points (3.82 per set).
East Division Defensive Player of the Week
Cassie Farrell, Miami, Sr., MH, Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson
In addition to contributing point offensively this week, Cassie was the team’s main defensive points contributor with a total of 15 blocks (two solo, 13 assisted) in two games. She set a new career-high with seven total blocks in win over Akron on Friday. Not to be outdone, she beat it the very next night with eight total blocks (two solo and six assisted) against Buffalo. She averaged 1.50 blocks per set for the week.
West Division Offensive Player of the Week
Terin Norris, Western Michigan, RFr., S, Dowling, Mich. / Delton – Kellogg
Norris made Western Michigan history in the Broncos’ win against Ball State, becoming just the fourth player in program history to record a triple-double in a match. Norris finished the match with 43 assists, 16 digs, and 11 kills, giving her the first triple-double in Brown and Gold since Jillian Mitchell had 45 assists, 11 kills, and 11 digs against Tulane in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Norris is also the only freshman in program history to achieve the feat, and the 11 kills in a single match are a new career-high. Against Toledo, Norris recorded her team-leading 15th double-double, finishing the match with 43 assists and 12 digs; that ranks as the second-most double-doubles of that variety in a single season at Western Michigan. With one more, Norris will tie Jillian Mitchell’s program single-season record for Digs-Assists double-doubles in a season, set in 2009. The Broncos are now 14-1 in matches where Norris records a double-double. Norris entered the weekend with the most assists of any freshman in NCAA Division I. The Broncos entered the weekend third in the nation in kills and first in assists.
West Division Defensive Player of the Week
Lena Oliver, Western Michigan, So., L, Battle Creek, Mich. / St. Phillip Catholic Central
Oliver helped the Broncos to a pair of 3-2 wins over the weekend, with WMU beating both Ball State and Toledo at University Arena. Against the Cardinals, Oliver was part of a team effort that saw the Broncos collect 84 digs and hold Ball State to just a .119 hitting percentage. In the process, Oliver moved into fifth place on the school’s career digs list, passing Jillian Mitchell and Schea Fissel; Oliver now has 1,244 career digs. Against Toledo, Oliver helped the Broncos rally to win in five sets, recording 29 digs for a 5.80 digs per set average. Oliver finished the weekend with 599 digs; with one more dig, Lena Oliver will reach 600 for the season, and would be just the fifth time in program history one player has collected 600 digs. The only other player in program history to reach 600 digs in a season was Caitlin Strimel, who did it three times. Oliver reached 645 digs last year, as well. Oliver entered the weekend ranked fifth in NCAA Division I in digs per set.
Additional Nominees for Defensive Player of the Week
Chelsea Harvey, Akron, Jr., DS, Stow, OH/Stow-Munroe Falls
Akron’s Chelsea Harvey had a tremendous performance in a five-set thriller against Miami, recording a double-double with 14 digs and a career-high 14 kills. The junior from Stow, Ohio, also added two assists and two blocks on the night, while hitting .333 with just four errors in 30 attempts. Against Bowling Green, Harvey notched one kill and four digs in a three-set loss. For the weekend, she averaged 2.25 digs/set and 1.875 kills/set and was also error-free in 47 reception attempts.
Ashley Dunn, Bowling Green, So., L, Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green
Ashley Dunn averaged 6.17 digs per set as Bowling Green split two weekend Mid-American Conference matches. Dunn had 20 digs in a three-set loss to Buffalo and followed that up with 17 digs in a critical three-set win over Akron. Dunn added eight assists on the weekend.
Carissa McKenna, Buffalo, So., MB, West Bloomfield, MI/Walled Lake Northern
McKenna led the way in the blocking department with 11 total blocks ion the weekend including, five solo blocks. In the win over Bowling Green she had six total blocks, while adding five kills. She added 11 kills in the five-set match against Miami.
Jenna Coates, Central Michigan, So., L, Clarkston, Mich/Clarkston
Jenna Coates finished the weekend averaging five kills per set, well above her 4.41 season average. She was apart of a defense that held both EMU and OU to under their season averages in hitting percentage. She was a near perfect on serves with only one error on 49 attempts. She outdug the conference’s dig leader 18-13 against EMU. Against OU she helped to hold the conference’s second best hitter to a .276 hitting percentage when she averages .382. In the game against OU she recorded 27 digs, just one shy from her career high of 28.
Amber Walker, Northern Illinois, Jr., L, Juneau Douglas H.S.
Walker led the Huskie defense in a 2-0 home weekend as she totaled 27 digs (4.50/set) and no reception errors in 21 attempts … In a 3-0 win versus Toledo, she tallied 15 digs and nine perfect receptions … In a 3-0 win over Ball State, she had 12 digs and 12 flawless receptions to extend NIU’s season-long winning streak to 11 matches and end a five-match losing streak to BSU.
Katie Post, Ohio, Sr., OH, Streamwood, Ill.
Katie Post finished second on the team this week in points and blocks as the Bobcats went 2-0 and climbed to within a game of the MAC leaders. She had 13 kills against Kent State, her best performance in MAC play this season, and hit .458 in the five-set win. She followed that with a 12-kill, seven block performance in a win over CMU. Post is ranked 10th nationally in blocks per set.
Amber DeWeerdt, Toledo, Sr., OH, Plainfield, IL (Plainfield North)
Additional Nominees for Offensive Player of the Week
Courtney Jarvis, Akron. Sr., OH, Amherst, Ohio/Amherst Steele
Akron’s Courtney Jarvis continues to lead the Zips offensively, totaling 29 kills in eight sets for an average of 3.625 kills/set on the weekend. Jarvis now has 994 career kills, needing just six more to reach the 1,000-kill milestone. In a five-set thriller against Miami, Jarvis recorded a double-double with 20 kills and 10 digs. Against Bowling Green on Senior Day, she tallied nine kills, six digs and two blocks in her final appearance at the JAR. For the season, she leads the Zips with 3.35 kills/set and 3.69 kills/set in conference play.
Liz Scott, Buffalo, Fr., OH, Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua Academy
Scott had the most efficient weekend of anyone in a UB uniform. She had 13 kills in UB’s three-set win over Bowling Green on Friday night and followed that up with an 18-kill performance in the five-set loss to Miami. Scott also added service aces in each match. Against the RedHawks, she added a career-high 17 digs, while she also added eight digs against the Falcons.
Rachel Iaquaniello, Eastern Michigan, Jr., OH, Plymouth, Mich./Dearborn Divine Child
Junior outside hitter Rachel Iaquaniello eclipsed the 400 kill mark for the season this week when she was able to deliver a pair of double-double performances helping the Eagles to a 1-1 record. The Plymouth, Mich. native opened up the week with a team-leading 16 kills in the Green and White’s final home match of the season against Central Michigan. EMU was able to top the Chippewas in four sets, while Iaquaniello helped out defensively with 16 digs in the match. Iaquaniello was also able to provide another stellar performance in the EMU loss to the Golden Flashes of Kent State Saturday, Nov. 5. The junior racked up 19 kills and 15 digs in the five-setter. Iaquaniello is moving up the Eastern Michigan career kill ranks as she sits at fourth overall in EMU history with 1,343 kills. Roxanne Munch sits on the top of that list with 1,537 kills in her career. Iaquaniello is sitting at third overall in career attack attempts with 3,932, with Jennifer Nighswander leading that category with 4,456.
Cassie Farrell, Miami, Sr., MH, Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson
Cassie was one of Miami’s top offensive stars this weekend, as the RedHawks got back into the MAC Tournament race with two key road victories. She had 20 kills and only made five errors the entire weekend for a .341 hitting percentage. She had 11 kills in five set win over Akron, and continued her fine effort with nine more kills in win over Buffalo on Saturday.
Lauren Wicinski, Northern Illinois, So., OH, Geneva H.S.
Wicinski led the Huskies to a perfect 2-0 home weekend as she notched 36 kills (6.00/set) and hit .420 in three-set wins over Toledo and Ball State … Versus Toledo, she put together 15 kills and a .344 attack percentage … Against Ball State, she notched 21 kills and a .486 hitting percentage to extend NIU’s season-long winning streak to 11 matches and end a five-match losing streak to the Cardinals … She has hit .400 or better in eight matches this season now.
Bailey Karst, Ohio, Fr., S, Aurora, Colo.
Bailey Karst helped the Bobcats climb to within one game of the MAC’s top spot as the team went 2-0 this weekend. The freshman followed a career-high 51-assist night against Kent State with her second double-double of the season against CMU. Karst had 41 assists and a career-high 14 digs to help the Bobcats win in five sets. Currently, she ranks seventh in the MAC in assists per game and sixth in aces per game (four this weekend).
Sondra Parys, Toledo, OH, Jr., Crystal Lake, IL/ Prairie Ridge