MAC Announces Volleyball Players of the Week

Tina Dimitrijevs was Akron’s anchor over the course of its championship weekend, commanding the Zips offense in three hard-fought wins over SIU Edwardsville, Binghamton and Youngstown State. The Zips Invitational Most Valuable Player recorded a higher attack percentage than all three of UA’s opponents, hitting a cumulative .442 for the tournament and averaging 3.42 kills per set. Her .647 clip in the win against SIUE is the program’s season high for players with 12 or more kills in a match. Dimitrijevs’ best all-around performance came in the five-set come-from-behind victory over Binghamton, when she posted 16 kills and only a single error in 29 attempts to hit .517, in addition to notching two service aces. She played big on both sides of the ball, tying her career high with four solo blocks and three block-assists. Dimitrijevs also helped lift Akron to a season-high 67 kills in the tournament title match against Youngstown State.

 

Kelly Lamberti was named MVP of the Bobcat Invitational after leading the team in kills, points and aces. She started the tournament with 17 kills to pace the Bobcats and surpassed the 500 mark for her career. Lamberti was second on the team with nine kills against the Bruins and capped her weekend with Lamberti had four service aces to go with a team-high 14 kills and 13 digs against Montana State. 

 

Hardy led the defense to a very strong week as she earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team at Miami’s home tournament. Earlier in the week, she set a career-high with 32 digs in a five-set match against Xavier. She would go on to have 41 digs at the tournament, including 21 in a win over Temple that clinched the title for the RedHawks. Hardy had zero reception errors in three of the four matches Miami played, and only had three total for the weekend. She led the defense to allowing only a .132 hitting percentage on the week, including a -.032 hitting percentage by Chicago State.

 

Named MVP of Missouri State Invite after hitting .413 with a 3.00 kills per set average and 12 blocks … Her .722 hitting percentage against New Orleans was a season high … Led the team in hitting percentage on the weekend by over .100 points.

 

Walker was named to Missouri State Invitational All-Tournament Team after recording 5.42 digs per game. In the Huskies win over Missouri State Walker recored a career high 33 digs.  She totaled 103 digs on the week.  

---

Defensive Player of the Week Nominees

Jill Paluch, Akron, Jr., DS, Chicago, Ill./Nazareth Academy
Jill Paluch guided the Akron defense en route to three huge victories over the weekend against SIU Edwardsville, Binghamton and Youngstown to sweep the Zips Invitational. Paluch led the Zips in digs for all three matches, totaling 51 over the course of the tournament. In the five set grudge match against Binghamton, Paluch’s mark of 19 digs was the best figure for both teams, and just one short of her career high. In UA’s championship title match against Horizon League-leading Youngstown State, Paluch only recorded one receiving error in 33 attempts. Her contributions in the back row were a big reason that Akron out-dug all three of its opponents.

 

Junior Jenna Coates helped lead the Chippewas to a 3-1 record last week, leading the Chippewas to straight set wins over Oakland and Campbell and a four-set victory over Western Carolina. In the Chippewas season opener, Coates recorded a match high 14 digs to help CMU earn its second-straight sweep and defeat Oakland, 3-0. For the third straight weekend, Coates led all players in a tournament defensively, finishing the Courtyard Midtown Invite with 55 digs. The Clarkston, Mich., native stepped up her game in the final match of the tournament, recording 6.25 digs per set versus host N.C. State and finished the weekend with 5.00 digs per set to lead all players. Overall, Coates play was instrumental in the Chippewas holding their opponents to a .154 hitting percentage on the weekend, while her passing was instrumental in the Maroon and Gold averaging 18 points per set. 

 

Senior middle blocker, Kristen Baker, led Eastern Michigan University to a 4-0 weekend and was also a force on the defensive side, notching 12 total blocks throughout the Mean Green Invitational. Against host North Texas she had four blocks, while she also had four in the Eagles final match against Oral Roberts University, Saturday, Sept. 8. Baker posted stellar offensive numbers as well. Baker played in all 16 sets for the Eagles posting double-figure kills in a pair of matches, including a 16-kill performance against the tournament host. In that match, Baker notched 16 kills on 30 attempts, making just three errors in the five-setter. Her attack percentage was at a .433 clip against North Texas. The Mentor, Ohio native also posted three service aces in that match against the Mean Green. Baker was named the tournament’s MVP after posting a total of 38 kills and a .378 attack percentage.  The senior made just seven attack errors in 82 attempts in the tournament. For the season, Baker is having success offensively for EMU with the second-most kills on the squad. She is averaging 2.55 kills per set, while posting a .303 attack percentage. Baker has 30 total blocks and is averaging 0.64 blocks per set on the 2012 campaign.

 

Kent State junior defensive specialist/libero Hannah Herc (Eden, N.Y.) tallied a team-high 42 digs and 3.82 digs per set at the Kent State Mizuno Classic over the weekend. Herc had a season-high 20 digs in a 3-2 loss to Liberty on Friday (Sept. 7), and followed with 12 digs in a 3-0 win over Saint Francis and 10 digs in a 30- loss to Marshall on Saturday (Sept. 8). She did not have any reception errors in 96 attempts for the weekend.

 

Hartnett was named to the Bobcat Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading Ohio in blocking this weekend and also notching 24 kills (.333). She started the tournament with her best offensive performance on the weekend (nine kills) to go along with three blocks. Hartnett then had nine kills and team-high tying four blocks against the Bruins. In the finale, she had eight kills, hit .636 and once again led the Bobcats in blocks as they completed a three-day sweep.

 

McCall Paynter was named to the Rocket Classic all-tournament team last weekend after leading the the Rockets with 4.25 digs per set. Paynter tied her season high with 20 digs against Florida Gulf Coast and also tallied 18 digs vs. Memphis and 13 digs vs. Illinois State.

 

Paige Penrod had at least 11 kills in each of three matches on the weekend, including a career-high 30 against Utah. Penrod became the first Falcon to have at least 30 kills in a match in 11 years as she helped the Falcons push the Utes to five sets. Penrod also had two double-doubles on the weekend, posting 19 digs in the match against Utah. In a three-set loss to undefeated No. 21 BYU, Penrod had 11 kills and 13 digs. In a four-set win over Portland State, she had 14 kills. Penrod added six aces on the weekend and now has at least two aces in seven consecutive matches.

 

Central Michigan sophomore outside hitter Kaitlyn McIntyre turned in an All-Tournament Team performance at the Courtyard Midtown Invitational last weekend, helping lead the Chippewas to a 2-1 record. McIntyre finished the weekend with 40 kills, 3.64 per set, with a hitting percentage of .232. She led the Maroon and Gold with 42 points over the three matches, averaging 3.82 per set. Over the final two matches versus Western Carolina and NC State, the Beaver Dam, Wis., native recorded match highs of 16 and 17 kills respectively. Earlier in the week, McIntyre turned in her best performance of the season, swinging home 18 kills in the Chippewas’ home opener versus Oakland and finishing the night with 19.5 points. 

 

Senior outside hitter, Rachel Iaquaniello, became one of the most decorated volleyball players in Eastern Michigan University history over the weekend when she took over the top-spot for career kills and career attack attempts. The Plymouth, Mich. native came into the tournament 12 kills behind Roxanne Munch's all-time kill record of 1,537.  With the Eagle's leading Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Sept. 7, 24-23 in the third set, Iaquaniello finished off the Islanders with her 13th kill of the match giving her 1,538 for her career, one ahead of Munch's 23-year old record which was set in 1989. That wasn't the only record Iaquaniello broke on the afternoon, as Iaquaniello's 37 attacks against the Islanders gave her 4,466 career attacks, moving her ahead of previous record holder Jennifer Nighswander. Iaquaniello now has 1,597 kills in her career and 4,603 attack attempts. Iaquaniello posted 54 total kills in the four matches, averaging 3.38 kills per set helping Eastern to a 4-0 weekend at the Mean Green Invitational. In EMU’s three set win over Hofstra, Sept. 8, the senior was able to post a .348 attack percentage and was in double-figures for kills in all four matches, helping EMU to a 10-2 record on the season. The Plymouth, Mich. native had a double-double in Eastern’s match against host North Texas, Sept. 7, as she had 14 kills and 13 digs. Her highest kill-total of the weekend was in the Green and White’s final match as she notched 16 against Oral Roberts University. 

 

Kent State sophomore outside hitter Tinuke Aderemi-Ibitola (Ellicott City, Md.) put together another strong weekend for the Golden Flashes, leading Kent State’s attack with a team-high 42 kills over three matches last weekend at the Kent State Mizuno Classic to earn all-tournament team honors. Aderemi-Ibitola recorded a double-double against Liberty (Sept. 7) with a career-high 22 kills to go with 11 digs. She had a team-best 1 kills and .500 hitting percentage in the Golden Flashes’ 3-0 victory over Saint Francis on Saturday (Sept. 8). Through nine matches in 2012, Aderemi-Ibitola leads the team in kills (105) and kills per set (3.52) and has reached double-digits in kills five times. 

 

Riley continued to do everything as she led Miami to the tournament title at its home event, the Miami Best Western/Sycamore Invitational. For the week, which also included a match against Xavier on Tuesday, she had 135 kills, an average of 3.55 per set. While she spent half of her time as an outside hitter, she also spent half of her time as a setter as well. She recorded 94 assists, an average of 5.53 per set. Riley had two triple-doubles during the week, recording 14 kills, 25 assists and 13 digs vs. Xavier, and a career-high tying 20 kills, 22 assists and 10 digs vs. Temple. She also had 15 kills vs. Indiana State and nine kills vs. Chicago State, while recording double-digit assists in both games. Riley also scored points on the block in all four matches, finishing with a total of 10 block assists for the weekend. To go with her three service aces, Riley had 66 points in four matches, an average of 3.88 per set. For her efforts, she was named to the All-Tournament Team.

 

 

Daiva Wise led Toledo with a .440 attack percentage while playing two matches in this weekend’s Rocket Classic.  Wise collected a season-high eight kills, four blocks and .533 attack percentage in UT’s 3-1 win over Florida Gulf Coast after tallying a .300 hitting mark with three kills and two blocks vs. Illinois State.

 

Norris was named to the All-Tournament team at the 2012 Carolina Classic, helping the Broncos to a win against Middle Tennessee and nearly an upset of the hosting Tar Heels.  Norris was integral in the Broncos’ 3-0 sweep of the Blue Raiders on Friday, averaging 13 assists per set and setting the Broncos to a .291 hitting percentage in the victory.  Norris was able to keep the defense honest with six kills on seven swings with just one error, and also added seven kills and one block.  Against North Carolina,  Norris recorded a double-double of 49 assists and 13 digs, and helped the Broncos tie the match at 1-1 and nearly take the lead against the Tar Heels.  Norris entered the weekend as the MAC leader in assists.