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DENVER - NM State senior outside hitter Gwen Murphy has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 7-13. This is her second WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and her career.
The Elfrida, Ariz. native led the Aggies to a 3-1 record at the Borderland Invitational last weekend, with the only loss coming at the hands of Oklahoma in a thrilling five-set match. Murphy, who had the match high in kills in all four matches, averaged 3.69 kills on .505 hitting and 0.75 blocks per set en route to all-tournament team honors. She opened the week with 15 kills and two blocks in the five-set loss to the Sooners. In a sweep of Robert Morris on Friday, Murphy finished with 14 kills on 15 attempts and no errors for a WAC single-match record .933 hitting percentage, breaking the previous record of .889 set in 1999. Later in the day, she posted 10 kills on .588 hitting to go along with three blocks and two digs. On the day, she had 24 kills on 32 attempts with no errors for a .750 hitting percentage. Murphy closed out the week with a career-high 20 kills and four blocks in a five-set win over Denver.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Kelsee Sawyer averaged 3.83 kills and 0.92 digs and was named to the all-tournament team at the Bluejay Invitational ... Elli Woinowsky of Chicago State averaged 3.20 kills and 2.30 digs and earned all-tournament team honors at the Bash at the Boro Invitational ... Grand Canyon's Natalie Tardy averaged 4.09 kills and 2.18 digs per set and led the Lopes to their first two wins of the season ... Jessica Hendin of Missouri-Kansas City was named MVP of the Kangaroo Klassic after averaging 4.45 kills, 2.73 digs and 1.00 blocks per set over three matches ... Seattle U's Martina Samadan averaged 3.50 kills on .529 hitting, 1.50 blocks and 1.00 digs per set over two matches ... Bojana Mitrovic of UT Rio Grande Valley earned all-tournament honors at the Islanders Classic after averaging 3.78 kills and 2.33 digs per set ... Utah Valley's Lauren Bakker earned all-tournament team honors at the Cougar Challenge after averaging 3.10 kills on .519 hitting and 1.40 blocks per set.