Penn State, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Ohio State were represented in the Big Ten Conference’s Week 3 honors.
Penn State senior outside hitter Ali Frantti garnered her first career Player of the Week accolade after averaging 4.6 kills and 1.4 digs per set as the Nittany Lions downed No. 4 Stanford and Colorado at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge. The Spring Grove, Illinois, native racked up 20 kills, while hitting .320 and adding five digs against the Cardinal, then chipped in 17 kills and six digs, while hitting .469 against the Buffaloes.
Wisconsin’s Tionna Williams was dubbed Defensive Player of the Week for the sixth time in her career after a weekend that saw her notch 3.0 kills and 2.8 blocks per set, while hitting at a .500 clip. The HotelRED Invitational MVP registered her first career double double with 10 kills and 11 blocks against Lipscomb, matching the UW three-match record in stuffs. The junior notched eight kills on 15 errorless swings, and put up a team-best six blocks against Texas A&M.
Nebraska setter Kelly Hunter earned her seventh Big Ten Setter of the Week accolade and first of 2017, after guiding the Huskers to a pair of wins over No. 11 UCLA. Hunter dished out 12.50 assists per set and helped the team to a .301 hitting percentage. The senior chipped in 2.7 digs per set, while also tallying her first double-double of the year with 31 assists and 14 digs on Saturday.
Ohio State libero Hannah Gruensfelder and Wisconsin middle blocker Dana Rettke rounded out the honorees with Co-Freshman of the Week awards.
Gruensfelder made good on all 32 of her serve reception chances, while racking up 7.43 digs per set. The rookie pulled up a team-best 38 digs in a Sunday loss to Notre Dame, setting a four-set match school record. All told, the Weldon Spring, Missouri, native accounted for 54 digs and nine assists, while upping her season average to 5.03 digs per set, best in the Big Ten.
Rettke, who was the conference’s player and freshman of the week on Aug. 28, put down 4.2 kills and added 1.5 blocks per set, while hitting at a .512 clip in wins over Lipscomb and Texas A&M. The rookie managed a team-best 13 kills and a .571 hitting effort with five blocks against Lipscomb and followed with a team-leading 12 kills and four stuffs against the Aggies.
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