Oct. 1, 2012
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - As the only school to beat two top-five opponents last week, Washington had a strong case for Pac-12 Women's Volleyball Player of the Week honors, and the conference handed out two of its three weekly honors to Huskies, as senior Amanda Gil earned Defensive Player of the Week honors and sophomore Krista Vansant was named Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. Arizona State freshman Macey Gardner was named Freshman of the Week. Washington (13-0, 4-0 Pac-12) also climbed from fifth to a tie for second in the AVCA Top-25 today, its highest ranking this season. The Huskies were also ranked No. 2 for one week in the 2011 season. The only time UW has been higher was when it was ranked No. 1 during the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Penn State remains the top-ranked team this week with 42 first-place votes. Oregon is tied with UW but is receiving more first-place votes with 13 while the Huskies were ranked first by five votes. Oregon and Washington are the last two undefeated teams in Division-I. The Huskies started the week last Wednesday with a thrilling, comeback win over then-No. 4 UCLA, the defending NCAA Champions. UW faced match points in the fourth set but rallied for a 22-25, 30-28, 19-25, 28-26, 16-14 victory. Two days later, the Huskies topped then-No. 3 USC in straight sets in front of a season-high 4,083 fans. Gil, a San Jose, Calif. native, dominated at the net, as the Huskies held both L.A. schools well below their season averages in attack percentage. Playing against her former team for the first time since becoming a Husky, Gil matched her season-high with eight block assists against UCLA, as UW held the Bruins to a .238 attack percentage. She also added six kills on a .357 attack percentage, as UW won its ninth-straight against the Bruins in Seattle. Against the Trojans, Gil had six more blocks in three sets, as USC hit just .221 for the night. For the week, Gil averaged 1.75 blocks per set. On Wednesday against the Bruins, Vansant put down a career-high 31 kills against just five errors for a .448 attack percentage. It was the first 30-kill performance by a Husky since Becky Perry in 2008 and the most kills by any Pac-12 player so far this season. She also added 11 digs for a double-double. Against the third-ranked Trojans on Friday, Vansant led the team again with 12 kills in the three-set victory, missing just twice for a .370 attack mark. She hit .424 for the weekend while averaging 5.38 kills per set. It is Vansant's second-career Offensive Player of the Week honor, the second time this season she has earned the nod. She also earned the honor on Oct. 1 after the Huskies swept through the Tiger Classic in Houston, and Vansant was also a three-time Freshman of the Week last year. It is Gil's first-career weekly honor. With the two selections this week, Washington has received 34 weekly honors all-time. The Huskies hit the road to face Utah on Friday and Colorado on Sunday. Both matches will be televised live on Pac-12 Networks.
Also Nominated: DEFENSIVE: Candace Nicholson, ARIZ; Whitney Follette, ASU; Kat Brown, CAL; Haley Jacob, ORE; Haley Clarke, OSU; Carly Wopat, STAN; Zoë Nightingale, UCLA; Natalie Hagglund, USC; Bailey Bateman, UTAH. FRESHMAN: Halli Amaro, ARIZ; Mary McKennon, CAL; Clelia DeFelice, ORE; Katelyn Driscoll, OSU; Inky Ajanaku, STAN; Samantha Bricio, USC; Katy Beals, WASH.
2012 Pac-12 Women's Volleyball Players of the Week Sept. 3 Sept. 10 Sept. 17 Sept. 24 Oct. 1 |
