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DENVER - UT Rio Grande Valley senior right side hitter Alisha Watson has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 22-28. This is the second WAC Player of the Week honor of her career for Watson.
The Round Rock, Texas native led the Vaqueros to the title at Baylor Invitational last weekend, including the program's first-ever win over Baylor, a team that finished last season ranked 47th in the NCAA RPI. Watson averaged 4.45 points, 4.00 kills on .308 hitting, 2.60 digs and 0.40 service aces per set over three matches. In the first match of the tournament, she posted a career-high 23 kills and added 16 digs for her seventh career double-double as UTRGV picked up its first win over a current or former Big 12 institution since 1973. Watson closed out the weekend with 10 kills on .364 hitting to go along with seven digs and two aces in a sweep of Prairie View.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Sydney Haynes averaged 2.54 kills on .325 hitting and was named to the all-tournament team at the Black Knights Invitational ... Dzeni Hadzisehovic of Chicago State averaged 2.30 kills and 1.10 digs and earned all-tournament team honors at the Memphis Invitational ... Grand Canyon's Natalie Tardy was named to the all-tournament team at the Falcon Classic after averaging 3.23 kills, 1.77 digs, 0.62 blocks and 0.38 service aces per set over the three matches ... Emma Hagedorn of UMKC was named to the Oklahoma Invitational All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.00 kills on .489 hitting and 1.11 blocks per set over three matches ... NM State's Jordan Abalos posted three double-doubles and averaged 3.27 kills and 3.36 digs per set last week ... Matea Mamic of Seattle U was named to the all-tournament team at the Ultra Ankle Challenge after averaging 4.22 kills, 1.89 digs, 0.67 assists and 0.33 service aces over three matches ... Utah Valley's Madison Dennison earned all-tournament team honors at the BYU Invitational after averaging 2.22 kills and 2.11 blocks per set.