Courtesy: Western Athletic Conference
NM State senior outside hitter Tatyana Battle and UT Rio Grande Valley senior libero Gysell Zayas have been named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Volleyball Players of the Week, respectively, for the week of Sept. 3-9. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and third of her career for Battle and the first-ever honor for Zayas.
Battle, an Albuquerque, N.M. native, averaged 3.47 points and 3.25 kills and was named MVP of the Borderland/Springhill Suites Invitational after playing in every set of every match including a pair of five-set victories, helping the Aggies to a 4-0 record last week. In the Aggies’ five-set victory over Montana, she posted a double-double with 16 kills and 12 digs. In handing Arizona its only loss of the season, Battle finished the match with 14 kills and eight digs, but held her composure when it mattered most, clinching match point with a kill off the Wildcat blockers. Against UTEP, the outside hitter led the team with 13 kills to go along with five digs, two assists, one block and a service ace.
Congrats to Tatyana Battle for being named the WAC Offensive Player of the Week!!https://t.co/zQilqpPcvf
#AggieUp pic.twitter.com/bF7hzbrzyZ
— NM State Volleyball (@NMStateVBall) September 10, 2018
Zayas, a San Antonio native, led the WAC with a 5.92 digs per set average last week. She opened the week with a season-high 28 digs in a four-set win over Incarnate Word last Tuesday, at one point diving into chairs to save a ball, immediately getting up and getting back into system. Over the weekend, she was named Best Defender at the Baylor Classic as she posted 17 digs in a three-set loss to Rice before tallying 26 digs in the Vaqueros’ historic five-set victory over the No. 15 Bears. She also added a season-high-tying four assists at Baylor.
Congrats Gysell! It was well deserved. #WePlayForYou #WACvb https://t.co/0tnsJkHJAQ
— UTRGV VOLLEYBALL (@UTRGV_vball) September 10, 2018
Other offensive nominees included: Sydney Marks of California Baptist was named to the all-tournament team at the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic after averaging 2.33 kills on .323 hitting and 2.75 points per set as the Lancers went 1-2 on the week … CSU Bakersfield’s Emily Hansen averaged 2.18 kills and 2.55 points per set as the Roadrunners went 1-2 on the week … Lauryn Dela Cruz of Chicago State posted a pair of double-doubles and averaged 3.69 kills and 4.12 points per set … Grand Canyon’s Annabelle Kubinski averaged 2.18 kills on .283 hitting and 2.73 points per set en route to Blue Hen Invitational All-Tournament honors last week … Tyrecia Lukes of Kansas City was named MVP of the Kangaroo Klassic after averaging 3.27 kills on .440 hitting as the Roos went 4-0 on the week … Seattle U’s Shae Harris was named to the all-tournament team at the Sacramento State Invitational after averaging 8.38 assists and 1.23 kills per set last week … Barbara Silva of UT Rio Grande Valley averaged 3.40 kills, 0.40 service aces and 4.30 points per set and posted a pair or double-doubles last week … Utah Valley’s Kristen Allred was named to the Wolfpack/Camel Invitational All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.28 kills per set on .290 hitting.
Other defensive nominees included: California Baptist’s Nicole Abreu was named to the all-tournament team at the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic averaging 4.08 digs per set … Mattison DeGarmo of CSU Bakersfield averaged 1.00 blocks per set … Chicago State’s Megan Klavitter averaged 5.23 digs per set and was named to the Georgia State Invitational All-Tournament Team … Kaira Moss of Grand Canyon averaged 0.80 blocks per set and earned Blue Hen Invitational honors … Kansas City’s Brooke Jacobs was named to the all-tournament team at the Kangaroo Klassic after averaging 0.87 blocks per set … Tijana Milojevic of Seattle U averaged 4.31 digs per set and was named to the Sacramento State Invitational All-Tournament Team … Utah Valley’s Jasmine Niutupuivaha averaged 1.11 blocks per set and earned all-tournament honors at the Wolfpack/Camel Invitational.
Leave a Reply