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CHICAGO STATE'S DELA CRUZ NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Chicago State junior outside hitter Lauryn Dela Cruz has been named Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 4-10. This is her second WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and of her career.
The Provo, Utah native posted double-doubles in all five matches last weekend, averaging 4.90 points, 4.65 kills and 3.65 digs per set as the Cougars went 4-1 on the week. Dela Cruz, who had 20 or more kills in three of the five matches, opened the week with 22 kills and 12 digs in a five-set road win at Bradley. Over the weekend, she led her team to the EIU Panther Classic title with wins over Western Illinois, Alabama A&M and host Eastern Illinois en route to earning all-tournament team accolades. She also tallied her first 20-20 match in a CSU uniform with 24 digs and 21 kills against the Panthers. It was a record breaking week for Chicago State, as it set school Division I records for the longest winning streak (six) and the best start to a Division I season (7-3) and won its first Division I tournament since 2004. Dela Cruz, who leads the WAC in both kills (4.40) and points (4.76), has a WAC-best 10 double-doubles on the year.
Other nominees included: CSU Bakersfield's Fabiana Andrade averaged 7.77 assists and 2.31 digs per set and was named to the all-tournament team at the NAU Tournament ... Hannah Hicks of Grand Canyon averaged 1.90 kills on .356 hitting and 0.80 blocks per set and earned GCU All-Tournament honors ... Kansas City's Alicia Harrington was named to the Kangaroo Klassic All-Tournament Team after averaging 3.42 kills and 2.83 digs per set last week ... Tatyana Battle of NM State averaged 4.25 kills on .395 hitting and 1.88 digs per set en route to Borderland Invitational All-Tournament honors ... Seattle U's Katarina Marinkovic averaged 5.08 kills and 2.38 digs per set and was named to the all-tournament team at the NKU Invitational ... Dubravka Vukoja of UT Rio Grande Valley was named to the all-tournament team at the Red Raider Classic after averaging 9.09 assists, 2.00 digs and 0.55 blocks per set ... Utah Valley's Lexi Thompson averaged 3.25 kills and 2.25 digs per set and was named to the all-tournament team at the TCU Fight in the Fort last week.
WAC STAT LEADERS
NM State currently leads the WAC in opponent hitting percentage (.131), assists (13.38), kills (14.06) and digs (18.09). Utah Valley leads the league in hitting percentage (.210) and blocks (2.59), while Grand Canyon is tops in service aces (1.47).
Individually, Chicago State's Lauryn Dela Cruz leads the WAC in kills (4.40) and points (4.76), while teammates Lacee Adams and Carmen Carbajal lead the league in assists (11.14) and service aces (0.43), respectively. Kansas City's Mykal Sadler is tops in hitting percentage (.368), while Utah Valley's Madison Dennison leads the league in blocks (1.48) and CSU Bakersfield's Emily Lopes is tops in digs (6.32).
WAC HAS 11 PLAYERS NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS
The WAC had 11 of its players named to all-tournament teams last weekend with two MVPs. Chicago State's Lacee Adams was named MVP of the EIU Panther Classic and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammate Lauryn Dela Cruz. Kansas City's Emma Dyer earned Kangaroo Klassic MVP honors and was joined by teammates Alicia Harrington on the all-tournament team. CSU Bakersfield's Fabiana Andrade was named to the all-tournament team at the NAU Tournament, while Grand Canyon's Hannah Hicks was named to the GCU Tournament All-Tournament Team. Tatyana Battle and Ariadnne Sierra of NM State earned all-tournament honors at the Borderland Invitational, while Katarina Marinkovic of Seattle U was named to the NKU Invitational All-Tournament Team. Rounding out the group were UT Rio Grande Valley's Dubravka Vukoja, who earned all-tournament honors at the Red Raider Classic, and Utah Valley's Lexi Thompson, who was named to the all-tournament team at the TCU Fight in the Fort.
CHICAGO STATE BREAKS SEVERAL PROGRAM RECORDS
When it won the EIU Panther Classic last weekend, Chicago State set school Division I records for the longest winning streak (six) and the best start to a Division I season (7-3). CSU also produced its first tournament title since 2014 and won its first DI tournament since capturing the Youngstown State Invitational in 2004.
NM STATE'S SIERRA REACHES 1,000 CAREER DIGS
NM State senior libero Ariadnne Sierra recorded her 1,000th career dig in the Aggies' match against Delaware State on Sept. 8 and now has 1,027 on career. The WAC's active dig leader has tallied 173 digs this season
KANSAS CITY MARKS TWO MILESTONES LAST WEEK
Kansas City notched two milestones during the Kangaroo Klassic. The team picked up its first-ever win against Northern Iowa and also posted its first-ever win over a Big Ten school when it swept Rutgers.
UTRGV'S MITROVIC SURPASSES 1,000 CAREER POINTS
UT Rio Grande Valley right side hitter Bojana Mitrovic posted her 1,000th career point in the Vaqueros' four-set loss to Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Sept. 2. She is the only active player in the WAC with more than 1,000 points with 1,054. Mitrovic's career totals come from just three seasons at UTRGV, as the senior played her first season at UT Brownsville.
UVU FACING TOUGH COMPETITION AT HOME
Utah Valley will welcome a total of three nationally ranked programs to Orem on the season. UVU opened its 2017 home slate by taking on No. 9 Kansas, the highest ranked team it has ever hosted at the NCAA Division I level. This week, the face in-state rivals No. 16 Utah and No. 14 BYU. The three home matches against nationally ranked foes marks the second-most ranked opponents that the Wolverines will have ever hosted in a single season after welcoming four to town in 2009.