DENVER – Hawai‘i sophomore outside hitter Kanani Danielson has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 24-30. This is the first WAC Player of the Week honor of the season for Danielson and the second of her career.
The ‘Ewa Beach, O‘ahu (Kamehameha Schools) native tallied 54 kills, 19 digs and 11 blocks over three matches en route to earning Most Outstanding Player honors at the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational last week. Danielson averaged a league-best 5.40 kills on .408 hitting as she led Hawai‘i to the tournament title with wins over No. 28 Western Michigan, No. 25 Santa Clara and No. 9 UCLA. Danielson, who led the Rainbow Wahine in kills in all three matches, tied a career high with 22 kills against Santa Clara. She also tied her career high with five blocks against both Santa Clara and Western Michigan. In the final match of the week against UCLA, Danielson hit .414, posting 16 kills in three sets.
Other nominees included: Liz Harden of Boise State tallied 25 kills and 12 digs in three matches and was named to the all-tournament team at the Bronco Invitational … Fresno State’s Lacey Gera was named to the Fresno State Invitational all-tournament team after averaging 3.00 kills and 1.30 digs … Kelsey Taylor of Idaho was named to the Crowne Plaza Titan Classic all-tournament team after hitting .302 and tallying 13 blocks over three matches … Louisiana Tech’s Nataliya Panova was named Lady Techster Invitational MVP after averaging 2.91 kills, 3.09 digs and 0.73 blocks as Tech claimed the tournament title … Lindsay Baldwin of Nevada was named to the Courtyard Marriott/Fairfield Invitational all-tournament team after averaging 2.50 kills, 3.12 points and 1.00 blocks as the Pack went 1-2 … Krista Altermatt of New Mexico State was named MVP of the Mean Green Classic after recording 31 kills and 32 digs in three matches as the Aggies claimed the tournament title … Utah State’s Shantell Durrant was named to the Best Western Canyon Pines Weber State Invitational all-tournament team after she tallied 24 kills and 12 blocks in three matches.