DENVER – Bakersfield senior outside hitter Danika Youngblood has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 15-21. This is her first-ever WAC Player of the Week honor.
The Salt Lake City, Utah, native averaged 5.50 points, 5.36 kills on .347 hitting, 2.73 digs and 0.36 assists over three matches last week, earning a spot on the Bakersfield Classic All-Tournament Team. Youngblood, who posted double-doubles in all three matches, opened the week with 19 kills and 10 digs in a four-set loss to Long Beach State. The following day, she posted a career-high 22 kills on .349 hitting to go along with 10 digs against Oregon State. Youngblood closed out the weekend with 18 kills on .368 hitting to go along with 10 digs and a service ace in a sweep of Fresno State. She entered the week averaging 3.06 points, 2.68 kills on .110 hitting and 2.74 digs per set.
Other nominees included: Chelsea Sheldon-Medina of Chicago State averaged 1.89 kills and 0.74 blocks per set and was named to the all-tournament team at the Chicago State Tournament ... Grand Canyon’s Megan Byrnes was named to the all-tournament team at the Chicago State Tournament and averaged 2.53 kills on .371 hitting, 0.94 blocks and 3.06 points per set over five matches last week ... Emma Hagedorn of Missouri-Kansas City was named to the all-tournament team at the FGCU Classic and averaged 2.38 kills on .330 hitting, 1.06 blocks and 0.62 digs as the Kangaroos went 4-0 on the week ... New Mexico State’s Gwen Murphy was named MVP of the Holly Young Invitational after averaging 3.11 points, 2.33 kills, 2.44 digs, 0.78 blocks and 0.33 service aces per set as the Aggies went 3-0 and won the tournament title ... Martina Samadan of Seattle U averaged 4.36 points, 3.73 kills on .554 hitting, 0.64 blocks and 0.55 digs per set over three matches last week ... Texas-Pan American’s Haley Durham averaged 3.25 points, 2.50 kills and 1.30 blocks per set last week ... Lauren Bakker of Utah Valley earned all-tournament team honors at the La Quinta Inn & Suites Invitational after averaging 2.69 kills, 0.92 blocks and 0.62 digs per set over the three matches.