INDIANAPOLIS -- Youngstown State junior Missy Hundelt has been named Horizon League Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week, while Valparaiso junior Ellen Vanden Berg has earned Defensive Player of the Week honors for the period of Sept. 10-16.|
Hundelt, a native of St. Louis, Mo., had 43 kills and 43 digs last week in helping lead Youngstown State to a 2-1 mark at the Spartan Spiketacular in Greensboro, N.C. In two YSU wins on Saturday, she averaged 4.63 kills and 4.75 digs while attacking at a .365 clip. She had a career-high 21 digs and four blocks in the Penguins win over UNC-Wilmington. For the weekend, the rising junior averaged 3.91 kills and digs per set as she was named to the All-Tournament team. Hundelt was named to the All-Tournament team in all four tournaments YSU played in during the non-conference season.
Youngstown State (10-4) had the most wins by a Horizon League team in the non-conference season and its 10 wins are the most in the non-conference for the Penguins since the 1999 season. YSU beings conference play this week with a trip to Wisconsin to face preseason HL favorite Milwaukee (5-8) on Friday and Green Bay (7-5) on Saturday.
Vanden Berg, from Little Chute, Wis., had 13 blocks over the weekend in being named to the Hoosier Classic All-Tournament team and helping lead Valparaiso to the Hoosier Classic title. She had six blocks in Valparaiso’s win over host Indiana on Friday night and had six more in Valpo’s sweep of UT-Chattanooga on Saturday. She also had a team-high 14 kills on a .458 hitting percentage in the Crusaders win over Indiana. Her 13 blocks tied for the most by a Horizon League player (Libby Bresser of Loyola also had 13) this past weekend.
Valparaiso (8-6) enters conference play as winners of four of its last five contests. They open League with a trip to Chicago to play UIC (6-8) on Friday night and Loyola (8-5) on Saturday.
Other Top Performers for the Week:
Kara Koch, Cleveland State (Sr., OH) - Koch had 38 kills and 31 digs in two matches for the Vikings last week. She had her sixth 20+-kill match of the season in CSU’s five-set loss to West Virginia on Saturday, finishing with 23, while also recording a career-high 25 digs in the match. She now ranks fourth all-time on Cleveland State’s career kills list with 1,309.
Anna Eytchison (Sr., OH) - Eytchison had 45 kills (5.00 kps) and hit .376 for the weekend to lead Loyola to the Rambler Challenge title. She set a career-high with 22 kills (22-4-38, .474) vs. USC-Upstate and then tied the mark with 22 more kills and 13 digs against DePaul.
Kelsey Victor, Valparaiso (So., OH/MH) - Victor was named MVP of the Hoosier Classic after recording 25 kills on a .365 hitting percentage and leading Valpo to a 3-0 record and the Classic title. She had 10 kills and a .421 hitting percentage against Miami (Ohio) and eight kills on a .438 hitting percentage against UT-Chattanooga. She had at least three blocks in all four matches.
Julie Kolinske, Milwaukee (So., OH) - Kolinske was a member of the All-Tournament team at the Marquette Invitational after averaging four kills and three digs per set in UWM’s three tournament matches.
Monica Anderson, Green Bay (Jr., OH) - Anderson had a team-high 41 kills to help the Phoenix to a 3-0 record and the Davidson Wildcat Classic championship last weekend. She had a career-high 22 kills in GB’s 3-2 title-clinching win over Davidson. She was named to the Wildcat Classic All-Tournament team.
Sara Sternard, UIC (So., MH) - Sternard posted a career-high 16 kills on a 560 hitting percentage in UIC’s win over Alabama A&M at the Tiger Invitational in Memphis. She finished the weekend with 38 kills.
Brittany Groth, Green Bay(Sr., L) - Groth had had 70 digs (6.4 digs per set) last weekend to help the Phoenix to the Davidson Wildcat Classic title.Stephanie Kinane, Loyola (Fr., L) - Kinane averaged 5.18 digs per set as Loyola won the Rambler Challenge. She had 25 digs in the Ramblers 3-1 win over DePaul and 19 against USC-Upstate.
Maggie Strus, UIC(So., DS) - Strus had 97 digs in four matches this weekend for the Flames. She set a career-high with 35 digs against Belmont.
