Sept. 25, 2006
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Offensive Player of the Week
Melissa David
UW-Milwaukee
Sr., Outside Hitter, Savoy, Ill.
David put together a stellar weekend as the Panthers claimed a pair of home league wins. Friday, in a win over Youngstown State, David led the way with 17 kills while adding four service aces and hitting .424. Then Saturday against Cleveland State, David hit .429 while collecting a team-high 15 kills. For the week, David averaged. 4.57 kills per game while hitting .426.
Defensive Player of the Week
Sarah Poling
Wright State
Sr., Libero, St. Henry, Ohio
Poling had a fantastic week defensively, totaling 77 digs in three matches. Poling had 24 digs in a win over Ball State, and she then set a new career-high with 28 digs in a win at Loyola. The senior Libero then finished the week with 25 digs in a loss to UIC. For the week, Poling averaged 7.00 digs per game.
Other Top Performers for the Week
Becky Peters
UW-Milwaukee
So., Libero, Germantown, Wis.
Peters led a strong UW-Milwaukee effort in the back row as the Panthers claimed a pair of League wins. Peters had 18 digs in a four-game win over Youngstown State Friday before adding 11 more digs in a three-game sweep of Cleveland State Saturday. Peters also handled 33 of 34 serve-receive attempts on the weekend while leading a UWM defense that limited its two opponents to a .140 hitting percentage.
Alisha Kimbro
Wright State
Jr., Outside Hitter, Lisle, Ill.
Kimbro totaled 12 kills with eight digs and two service aces in the Raiders' first match last week, a win over Ball State. Kimbro then had a double-double of 19 kills and 15 digs in win at Loyola to go with eight block assists, five aces and four assists. She followed up that performance with another double-double of 11 kills and 14 digs at UIC.
Amanda Kenny
UIC
Jr., Outside Hitter, Oak Lawn, Ill.
Kenny paced UIC to a perfect 3-0 week-including two wins to open Horizon League play-totaling 42 kills, 49 digs, six assists and three services aces. The junior posted double-doubles in two of the three matches and averaged 4.2 kills and 4.9 digs per game on the week. Kenny kicked off the week with an impressive 16 kills and 28 digs in the Flames' four-game triumph at Eastern Illinois. She then helped the Flames start 2-0 in Horizon League play with 13 kills, nine digs and a .500 attack percentage in a sweep of Butler, before recording 13 kills and 12 digs in a victory over Wright State. For the season, Kenny now boasts 167 kills and 159 digs.
Ruth Boscaljon
Youngstown State
Fr., Middle Hitter, Elgin, Ill.
Although Youngstown State went 0-2 this week, Boscaljon turned in another solid performance with 3.25 kills per game and a .327 hitting percentage. Her 21 kills against UW-Green Bay marked the third time this season she has posted at least 20 kills and the ninth time she has recorded double figures in kills.
Liz Fazio
Cleveland State
Fr., Outside Hitter, Akron, Ohio
Fazio led the Vikings to a 1-1 record on the week, averaging 3.83 kills and 2.83 digs. On Friday in a sweep at UW-Green Bay, she tallied 11 kills, 11 digs and three blocks for her third double-double of the season. The next day at UW-Milwaukee, she paced Cleveland State with 12 kills and added six digs.
Porshia Allen
Butler
Fr., Outside Hitter, Indianapolis, Ind.
Allen paced the Bulldogs offensively last weekend, recording a team-best 27 kills in two Horizon League matches. She knocked down a match-best 17 kills in three games against UIC, hitting a solid .433 (17-4-30) Allen then recorded 10 kills against Loyola the following match.
Betty Slinger
UW-Green Bay
Jr., Setter, Faribault, Minn.
Slinger came within two digs of posting back-to-back triple-doubles last weekend. In Friday's loss to Cleveland State, Slinger posted her second triple-double of the season, leading the team with 11 kills while adding 21 assists and 12 digs to go along with a .368 hitting percentage and five blocks. The following day in a victory over Youngstown State, Slinger tallied 10 kills, 46 assists and eight digs to help give the Phoenix its first League victory.
Shelby Henriksen
Loyola
Jr., Middle Blocker, Lakeville, Minn.
Henriksen averaged 3.11 kpg (28 kills) as Loyola opened Horizon League play by splitting matches against Wright State and Butler. Henriksen opened the weekend with a career-high 17 kills to help Loyola rally in an eventual five-game loss to Wright State. She followed that up with a stellar 11-kill performance in a win over Butler.
News From Around The League
UW-Milwaukee
UWM's two middles put together excellent performances over the weekend. Senior Cheryl Hegemann hit .321 in the two matches, averaging 3.86 kills per game while coming up just two blocks short of a triple-double Friday night. Senior Sarah Moore, meanwhile, hit .571 for the weekend while averaging 3.71 kills per game.
The Panthers have now won 17-straight home League matches.
UWM also has a 14-match regular-season League winning streak. Its last League regular season loss came at Loyola in September of last year.
The Panthers have now beaten Youngstown State 12-straight times and have won 24 of their last 25 matches against Cleveland State.
UW-Milwaukee will play at home this weekend, taking on in-state rival UW-Green Bay.
UIC
UIC's three-match winning streak is its longest of the season. The Flames are also off to another perfect start in Horizon League playing, after starting the League loop 6-0 last season.
UIC has two matches on the road this week as the Flames take on Youngstown State and Cleveland State.
Cleveland State
At 11-3, the Vikings are off to their best start since the 2002 squad opened with the same record. In addition, CSU's recent nine-match winning streak was the longest since the 2002 team won 10 in a row.
Cleveland State's sweep of UW-Green Bay on Friday was its ninth of the year and fifth in a row. At UW-Milwaukee, the Vikings were blanked for the first time this season, losing a game for the first time since Sept. 8.
Friday's victory at UW-Green Bay was head coach Chuck Voss' 100th win in seven years at Cleveland State. He has 133 victories in nine seasons overall.
The Vikings will be playing at home for just the second time this season as they take on Loyola Friday. Cleveland State will also play host to UIC on Saturday.
Loyola
Sarah Elmer recorded her second triple-double of the season in defeat for Loyola, finishing with 12 kills, 59 assists and 16 digs against Wright State on Friday.
Freshman Dana VanDiggelen had a career-high 17 kills in her first start as Loyola, with a revamped lineup, cruised past Butler, 3-1 on Saturday.
Loyola takes the week off before its first Horizon League road weekend. The Ramblers travel to northeast Ohio to take on Cleveland State and Youngstown State, opening play on Friday night against the Vikings.
Wright State
Wright State ended two long winless streaks last week with the victories over Ball State and Loyola. The Raiders had dropped the last three meetings to Ball State and had not defeated the Cardinals since winning in four games on September 13, 1983. On Friday, WSU snapped a 14-match losing streak to Loyola as the Raiders defeated the Ramblers since taking a five-game decision October 22, 1999.
Three Raiders set career-bests in the win at Loyola Friday. Senior Sarah Poling recorded 28 digs, eclipsing the 27 set last year at Georgia State and tied against Denver on September 16, while Junior Alisha Kimbro had 19 kills-tying the 19 she had against Jacksonville on September 9-Sophomore Lizzy Gunn tallied 15 total blocks, besting the 11 she had at South Florida on September 9.
Wright State has two matches on the slate this week as the Raiders host Butler on Friday before stepping out of Horizon League play Saturday to visit crosstown rival Dayton.
UW-Green Bay
UW-Green Bay's .273 hitting percentage in Saturday's win over Youngstown State was a season-high. The Phoenix hit over .300 in each of the three games it won.
The Phoenix averaged an impressive 3.21 blocks per game in its first two Horizon League matches. Four separate UW-Green Bay players averaged at least one block per game, led by sophomore middle blocker Abby Bergsma's average of 1.57 per game.
UW-Green Bay hits the road in Horizon League play for the first time this weekend when it travels south to face in-state rival UW-Milwaukee Friday for its lone match of the week.
Youngstown State
With eight wins this season, YSU has surpassed its win total from last season. With 14 digs against UW-Green Bay on Saturday, senior Amanda Cindric became the 10th player in school history to record at least 1,000 digs in a career. She currently ranks 10th with 1,006. Senior Cari Leslie, who already ranks eighth with 1,137 career digs, needs 149 more kills to become the fifth player in school history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career.
Youngstown State plays on its home court this weekend, taking on UIC Friday and Loyola on Saturday.
Butler
In her first season with the team, freshman Porshia Allen currently leads the team with 3.09 kills per game.
With 480 assists in just 15 matches this year, sophomore setter Dana Daprile has surpassed her season total of 476 from last year. Daprile had her freshman campaign limited to 18 matches due to injury.
The Bulldogs' next win will be Sharon Clark's 100th as the head coach of the Bulldogs.
Valparaiso
Valparaiso has won a season-high six straight matches overall and 25 in a row at the Athletics-Recreation Center. The Crusaders have won 41 of 43 Mid-Con matches since the start of the 2003 season.
Angie Porché led the team in kills during the week (40), including a career-high 19 against DePaul. Porché hit .486 in Valpo's three-game win over the Blue Demons. Valparaiso hit a season-best .381 on Friday, including .520 in game one (15-2-25).
The Crusaders remain at home this weekend to take on Mid-Continent rivals Oral Roberts and Centenary.
