Volleyball

MVC Volleyball Weekly Notebook (Sept. 8)

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Cnoference announced its volleyball weekly awards on Monday. Drake's Kacia Brown has been named the MVC Player of the Week while Evansville's Ainoah Cruz has been named the league's Defensive Player of the Week. UIC's Ana Petrides is the MVC's Freshman of the Week.

Conference News & Notes

  • The Bruins completed the clean sweep of the Belmont Invitational on Saturday without dropping a set at their home tournament, improving to a league-best 5-1 overall. Belmont leads the league in hitting percentage and ranks 18th nationally in opponent hitting percentage (.123).
  • Three of the nation’s leaders in total digs hail from The Valley. Evansville’s Ainoah Cruz leads all of
  • Division I with 160 digs while Bradley’s Irene Mostardini is foruth with 133 and Valparaiso’s Emma Hickey ranks 10th with 121. Hickey is averaging the third-highest digs per set in the country at 5.76.
  • Three players in the MVC are hitting at a .400 clip or better, with UIC’s Julieta Sandez leading the way at .456. The middle blocker ranks in the top 25 nationally in the category.
  • Evansville’s Kora Ruff ranks in the top 10 nationally in total assists with 245, while Bradley’s Maria Drapp leads The Valley in assists per set (8.77).
  • The Purple Aces rank second in Division I in team assists (347), team digs (483) and team kills (371). Valparaiso leads the MVC in assists/set (13.09), kills/set (13.91) and digs/set (17.23).
  • Illinois State’s 66.0 team blocks leads The Valley and ranks 11th in the country, averaging 3.00 blocks per set.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kacia Brown, Drake, Gr., Middle Blocker - Waterloo, Iowa (Cedar Falls HS)
Drake’s Kacia Brown led the charge on both sides of the net in a 2-1 weekend for the Bulldogs at the 305 Challenge with wins over North Texas and FIU. Brown led the Bulldogs with 43 kills over three matches, hitting at a .354 clip. She posted a pair of double-doubles in the victories, finishing with 29 total digs. Brown added a pair of blocks, four aces and 48.0 points over the weekend.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ainoah Cruz, Evansville, Jr., Libero - Arecibom, Puerto Rico
In Evansville’s four matches last week, Ainoah Cruz paced the team with 4.59 digs per set while adding a total of 20 assists and six service aces. After opening the week with eight digs and three aces against Michigan State, Cruz recorded at least 20 digs in each contest at the GSU Invitational. In each match over the weekend, Cruz tallied at least five assists. She leads the country with 160 total digs this season.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Ana Petrides, UIC, Fr., Middle Blocker - Park Ridge, Ill. (Maine South HS)
UIC’s Ana Petrides helped the Flames go 2-1 at the Morehead State Comfort Inn Invitational with 22 kills and a .333 hitting percentage with 10 total blocks. The rookie opened the weekend with a collegiate-high 13 kills on .611 hitting in a three-set sweep of Radford. In a five-setter against Morehead State, Petrides recorded a seven-kill, five-block performance before wrapping up the weekend with two more kills and three more blocks against Toledo.