Oct. 22, 2012
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - Playing in just her third and fourth matches of the season last week, Husky freshman Melanie Wade exhibited the potential that promises big things to come for the 6-5 middle blocker, and she picked up the first big honor of her UW career today as the Pac-12 named her Defensive Player of the Week. Wade had only appeared in two matches all year but got the starts against No. 2 Stanford and California last week. On Friday against the Cardinal, Wade helped UW hold Stanford to just .110 on offense, as UW out-hit the Cardinal and scored 19 more total points than Stanford, but suffered a heartbreaking five-set loss. A native of Palo Alto, Calif. and graduate of Palo Alto High School, which is right across the street from the Stanford campus, Wade had six blocks against the Cardinal. Wade led Palo Alto HS to consecutive California state titles as a junior and a senior. She was a consensus First Team All-American as a senior and the No. 17 overall recruit last year by Prepvolleyball.com. On Sunday versus the Bears, Wade led all Huskies with a career-best 12.5 points as she set career-highs in nearly every category. She had six kills on 11 swings for a .545 attack percentage, both season-bests, she served up the first three aces of her career, and added a match- and career-high seven blocks as UW held Cal to a .073 attack percentage. Wade also added the first assist of her career for good measure. For the weekend, Wade averaged 1.62 blocks per set. The Huskies have had a higher blocks total than their opponent in every single match this year, and lead the NCAA with 3.35 blocks per set. This is the first weekly honor for Wade, and the fourth this season for Washington. It is the fifth defensive honor for UW since the award was added last year. Stanford's Carly Wopat earned Offensive Player of the Week honors and Samantha Bricio of USC was named Freshman of the Week. The fifth-ranked Huskies have two huge road matches this week, visiting seventh-ranked USC on Friday and then sixth-ranked UCLA on Sunday. Both matches will be live on Pac-12 Networks. 2012 Pac-12 Women's Volleyball Players of the Week Offensive Defensive Freshman |
