Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State and Purdue Earn Weekly Volleyball Awards
Michigan’s Lerg and Welsh, Northwestern’s McNulty, Ohio State’s Witte and
Purdue’s Atkinson earn first weekly honors of 2018
Co-Player of the Week
Lauren Witte, Ohio State
MB – So. – Mentor, Ohio – Lake Catholic
- Led Ohio State to a 3-0 opening weekend, marking a career-high 19 kills and five digs against Albany
- Registered a career-high .846 hitting percentage against Ohio with eleven kills
- Hit .636 through three matches with just two errors
- Tallied 12 blocks over the weekend and earned Sports Imports D.C. Koehl Classic MVP and All-Tournament team honors
- Garners her first career Player of the Week decoration
- Last Ohio State Player of the Week: Taylor Sandbothe (Oct. 3, 2016)
Co-Player of the Week
Sherridan Atkinson, Purdue
OH – Sr. – Long Beach, Calif. – Millikan
- Opened the season with her first career double-double against Wofford with 17 kills and 10 digs
- Posted match-high kills against Wofford and Tulsa with 17 and 18, respectively
- Averaged 5.1 kills with a .409 hitting percentage for the weekend
- Named the Reamer Club Premier MVP as Purdue claimed the tournament’s inaugural title
- Earns her second career Player of the Week award
- Last Purdue Player of the Week: Sherridan Atkinson (Nov. 13, 2017)
Defensive Player of the Week
Jenna Lerg, Michigan
L – Sr. – Farmington Hills, Mich. – Mercy
- Averaged 8.67 digs per set helping Michigan to back-to-back sweeps to start the season
- Named MVP of the War Eagle Invitational Tournament
- Named Academic All-Big Ten selection in 2017
- Collects her third career Defensive Player of the Week accolade
- Last Michigan Defensive Player of the Week: Claire Kieffer-Wright (Oct. 2, 2017)
Setter of the Week
MacKenzi Welsh, Michigan
S – Jr. – Bolingbrook, Ill. – Plainfield East
- Posted consecutive assist-dig double-doubles, averaging 14.6 assists and 4.4 digs per set while guiding Michigan to back-to-back sweeps to start the year
- Piloted a Wolverines’ offense that hit .258 for the weekend
- Named Academic All-Big Ten selection in 2017
- Receives her first career Setter of the Week award
- Last Michigan Setter of the Week: Lexi Dannemiller (Nov. 10, 2014)
Freshman of the Week
Kiara McNulty, Northwestern
S – Fr. – Del Mar, Calif. – Torrey Pines
- Began her college career last weekend, helping the Wildcats to a 3-0 record by averaging 11.5 assists and 4.0 digs per set
- The only Big Ten setter to log three double-doubles in the season-opening weekend and to mark 40-plus assists in all three matches
- Picked up 49 assists in the season opener against South Dakota, the most helpers for a Wildcat in her debut since at least 1999
- Receives her first career Freshman of the Week honor
- Last Northwestern Freshman of the Week: Symone Abbott (Oct. 6, 2014)
2018 Big Ten Players of the Week
Aug. 27
P: Lauren Witte, So., OSU
P: Sherridan Atkinson, Sr., PUR
D: Jenna Lerg, Sr., MICH
S: MacKenzi Welsh, Jr., MICH
F: Kiara McNulty, NU
