From West Virginia outside hitter Payton Caffrey being named the Big 12 freshman of the week for the fifth time this season to CSU Bakersfield senior outside hitter Carol Grasso earning Western Athletic player-of-the-week honors to Mallory Warrington of Arkansas State yet again being the Sun Belt setter of the week to Nebraska’s Kadie Rolfzen being named the Big Ten POW for the second time this season, we’ve got them all here, all the Division I POWs.
You can look forward every Tuesday to the VolleyballMag.com roundup of the POWs around the country.
POWs, of course, are players of the week, and we will do our best to list the honorees from all 32 Division I conferences here.
ACC
North Carolina libero Sheila Doyle is the ACC POW while Wake Forest middle blocker Caitlyn Della is the top freshman.
Doyle had her best defensive performance of the season as the No. 8 Tar Heels beat Notre Dame, 3-2. The senior had 40 digs, second best in UNC history and first since 2005. She had 13 more digs against Louisville.
Della had 28 kills in two matches with only three errors for a .481 hitting percentage and eight total blocks.
Big 12
The Big 12 offensive POW is Kansas junior right side Kelsie Payne.
For the second time in four matches, Payne nearly recorded a triple-double with 16 kills (.371 hitting), 10 digs and seven blocks for her fifth double-double of the season at TCU last Saturday.
For the week she had 27 kills, 11 blocks and two aces.
Teammate Cassie Wait, a senior libero, is the defensive player after leading the Big 12 with 6.50 digs per set. She leads the Big 12 in digs per set (5.18).
For the fifth time this season, West Virginia outside Payton Caffrey is the freshman of the week. She led all Big 12 freshman in kills per set (4.86) a totaled 34 kills, three block assists and a service ace.
Big Ten
Kadie Rolfzen of Nebraska earned the POW for the second time in her career as the senior outside averaged 4.3 kills per set, hitting .467. She also had 2.7 digs per set.
Illinois junior libero Brandi Donnelly took defensive honors after she had 40 digs and averaged 6.7 per set.
The setter was her sophomore teammate Jordyn Poulter. Poulter averaged 13.0 assists and had nine blocks.
Michigan setter MacKenzi Welsh was the B1G freshman after averaging 10.0 assists and coming up with 19 digs and five blocks
Pac-12
She’s had a big season and for the first time USC’s Khalia Lanier is honored as the top freshman after averaging 5.57 kills, 3.14 digs and 0.43 blocks. She had 16 kills and 14 digs at Oregon State.
The offensive POW is UCLA freshman Torrey Van Winden, who averaged 4.13 kills, hit .380, and also came up with 2.25 digs and 0.75 blocks. She led the Bruins in kills at Oregon and Oregon State.
Teammate Taylor Formico was the defensive honoree after averaging 6.38 digs and has been in double-figure digs in all 18 UCLA matches this season.
Southeastern
The SEC POW is also the setter of the week, as Florida sophomore Allie Monserez came away with both honors. She matched her career high with 57 assists in Florida’s win at Texas A&M, which also tied the highest total by any SEC player in a four-set match this season. Monserez posted her third double-double of the season at LSU, logging 32 assists and a career-high 16 digs. She continues to lead the SEC in assists per set (12.35) and has the Gators atop the SEC in hitting percentage (.323).
Teammate Rhamat Alhassan was the defensive POW. The junior middle averaged 1.71 blocks per set in two road victories. She registered 10 total blocks in Florida’s four-set road win over defending SEC-champion Texas A&M, becoming the only player in the SEC this year with 15-plus kills and 10-plus blocks in a match and recording just the fourth double-double by an SEC player that included 10 blocks.
The offensive POW was Missouri junior outside Melanie Crow, who had 23 kills and 16 digs in the Tigers’ win at Alabama.
And the freshman of the week was a familiar face in Kentucky outside Leah Edmond, who averaged 4.17 points and 3.50 kills
America East
Demi Muses is the POW for the third time in four weeks after the New Hampshire senior middle had 36 kills and 44 digs in two matches and hit .343 against UMass Lowell.
Two teammates were honored as well. The rookie of the week was freshman outside Emily Tanski, who averaged 3.25 kills, hit .297 and also had 2.88 digs per set. And the setter was UNH’s Keelin Severtson. The senior averaged 12.38 assists and 2.38 digs.
And the defensive specialist was UMBC’s Kristin Watson. The sophomore led the league with 6.14 digs per set last week.
American Athletic
The league honored UCF junior outside Kia Bright for shining in both her team’s victories last week. She averaged 4.375 kills and 2.75 digs and hit .336.
The defensive player is a familiar face in SMU senior libero Morgan Heise, who averaged 6.71 digs per set in two matches and finished with a perfect receiving percentage in 39 attempts and is the only player averaging more than five digs per set in conference __play (5.09).
Atlantic Sun
Carlyle Nusbaum, Lipscomb’s sophomore outside, averaged 3.57 kills per set over three matches, had eight blocks, including two solos. She also hit .304 for the week to earn offensive honors.
The ASUN defensive POW is Mackenzie Swan of Jacksonville. The junior DS averaged 5.43 digs and also had three aces, two assists and a kill against Stetson.
The top freshman was Daniele Serrano of FGCU. The middle hit .474 in two matches with only two attack errors and had six blocks.
Atlantic 10
Saint Louis senior outside Danielle Rygelski was named the A-10 POW while junior teammate Mackenzie Long earned defensive honors. Fordham’s Olivia Fairchild was the rookie.
Rygelski had 53 kills on 113 attacks over two matches. Rygelski owns the first, second and fifth three-set kill totals in the NCAA this year.
Long, a libero, averaged 4.14 per set and is averaging 3.71 digs for the season.
Fairchild had a career-high with 34 kills in a five-set loss at La Salle that fell just two shy of the program’s record set in 1990. For the week, Fairchild had an attack percentage of .309 and also recorded 17 digs, three blocks, and two aces.
Big East
The Big East POW is Butler senior Anna Logan, who averaged 4.25 kills and had 48 digs in three matches.
The top freshman was Brittany Witt, Creighton’s libero, who averaged 4.33 digs, 1.83 assists and 0.17 aces per set.
Big Sky
Northern Arizona’s Abby Akin, a freshman middle, was the top defensive player after getting 13 blocks in two matches.
Idaho State senior setter Hayley Farrer was the top offensive player. She had 67 assists and 18 kills in two matches.
Big West
Cal Poly junior Raeann Greisen hit .413 and led the team in kills in two wins to be the Big West POW. The outside hitter had a combined 32 kills in back-to-back sweeps over Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside. Greisen ranks No. 7 in the Big West with 3.46 kills per set.
UC Santa Barbara sophomore Emilia Petrachi captured her third career Big West defensive honor – and second of the season – averaging 6.13 digs per set over two matches.
And UC Riverside outside hitter Mickayla Sherman is the top freshman after getting 26 kills against UC Santa Barbara in a four-set victory, hitting .400. She also had a career-best 11 digs to go with three block assists and a service ace.
Colonial Athletic Association
The CAA had co-offensive POWs.
Towson senior outside Jessica Lewis shared the honor with UNCW senior outside Nicole Lott.
Lewis got the award for the third time this season as she averaged 5.0 kills per set and hit .419 in three victories.
Lott turned in a record-setting performance in UNCW’s five-set victory over Elon with records for single-match kills (29), attempts (82) and points (30.5). She had 12 kills and 20 digs to go with four blocks against College of Charleston.
Delaware senior libero Taylor Hollingsworth was top defensive player. She averaged 6.18 digs.
And the rookie was Northeastern freshman middle Shaina White, who had 13 kills, nine digs and six blocks in two victories.
Conference USA
The C-USA offensive POW is Florida Atlantic senior outside Maja Ristic, who had 40 kills over Rice and North Texas. She had 31 digs in the two matches and her 3.49 kills per set ranks fifth among C-USA leaders.
Defensive honors went to Rice junior middle Portia Okafor, who had 20 blocks in 11 sets (1.82 per set) and had at least six blocks in all three matches.
Okafor’s seven blocks against Marshall were the third most by a C-USA player in a three-set match.
The C-USA setter was Rice teammate Madison McDaniel. The junior averaged 11.55 assists and had 26 digs in two matches.
The top freshman for the second time this season is Marshall middle Madison Hill. She hit .706 against FIU with eight blocks and then hit .562 against Louisiana Tech.
Horizon League
The league honored Keely Creamer of Northern Kentucky and Morganne Longoria of Valparaiso.
Creamer had a career-high hitting percentage in a single match (.842) along with 16 kills in Northern Kentucky’s sweep over Youngstown State.
Longoria recorded 41 digs in two matches and the senior libero also received 76 serves in the two matches without committing a reception error.
Ivy League
There were co-POWs in the Ivy, Princeton senior Cara Mattaliano and Harvard senior Corinne Bain.
Mattaliano, the reigning Ivy League player of the year averaged 3.83 kills per set in two matches and leads the league at 3.56 per set.
Bain had 13 kills, 16 assists and 13 digs in a 3-0 sweep of Columbia and added 15 kills, 20 assists and 12 blocks in a five-set loss to Cornell.
The Ivy rookie is Princeton freshman Maggie O’Connell. The middle blocker had 25 kills in two matches, hit .400 and also had four digs and four blocks.
Metro Atlantic
The MAAC POW is Skyler Day of red-hot Fairfield. The junior outside, who won the award for the second straight week, averaged 5.43 kills in two victories and hit .247.
The libero is teammate Mallory Bechtold, also repeating the honor. The sophomore averaged 6.14 digs in seven sets.
And the league’s rookie is Canisius freshman setter Cassidy Ceriani, whose 61 assists against Manhattan were the most from a freshman in the program since 2004 and most for the team since 2008.
Mid-American
The MAC East offensive POW is Mallory Salis, a senior outside for Ohio who led the Bobcats with 48 kills (5.33 per set) and four service aces (0.44 per set) and was second with 27 digs (3.00 per set).
Her MAC West offensive counterpart was NIU middle Jenna Radtke. The senior averaged 4.00 kills per set and hit .474 with 32 kills in only 57 swings. In three sets against Buffalo, Radtke hit .526 while posting 12 kills, two service aces and two block assists.
The MAC East defensive POW was Madeline Garda of Bowling Green. The senior libero continues to lead the country in digs per set (6.64) and total digs (485), and had another strong defensive week, with 41 digs in two matches. She also had seven aces against Eastern Michigan.
The MAC West defensive POW was Kathleen Reilly. The Western Michigan freshman libero averaged 5.71 digs per set in WMU’s 2-0 weekend. She had an .875 serve-receive percentage in one match and .952 in the other.
Mid-Eastern
Howard junior Khaila Donaldson and Florida A&M freshman Maria Yvette Garcia were selected as the MEAC co-POWs.
Howard’s Tamia Dockery and Florida A&M’s Valeria Lopez earned co-setter honors, while Morgan Marlbrough of Howard was selected defensive specialist. Bethune-Cookman’s Alana Handy was named top rookie.
Donaldson averaged 13.0 digs and 13.5 kills in wins. Garcia had 19 kills, while hitting .381, and had 10 digs, two service aces and a block in her only match.
Handy had 30 kills, 23 digs, two blocks and one assist in her two matches
Dockery (S, 5-8, So., Richmond, Texas) averaged 12.0 assists per set and 36.0 assists per match against Bethune-Cookman and Coppin State. She recorded a match-high 51 assists in a four-set victory over Bethune-Cookman, while Lopez had 45 assists in her only match to go with five kills and four digs.
Marlbrough averaged 5.0 digs.
Missouri Valley
The Valley POW is Wichita State junior setter Emily Hiebert, who led WSU to a 3-0 week and into first place in the MVC standings. She averaged 12.40 assists, 1.50 kills, 0.10 aces, 2.40 digs and 0.40 blocks per set, while hitting .591.
Teammate Abbie Lehman, a junior middle, was top defensive player. She averaged 1.60 blocks, 2.00 kills, 0.20 digs and 3.15 points per set, while hitting .370.
The Valley’s top freshman was Missouri State setter Daniele Messa, who averaged 12 assists and 2.91 digs.
Mountain West
It was all Boise State.
Boise State senior middle blocker Maddy O’Donnell is the MW offensive POW, while Bronco junior libero Maddi Osburn the defensive POW.
O’Donnell averaged 4.33 kills and 5.33 points per set with a .500 hitting percentage.
Osburn averaged 5.83 digs per set and had only one reception error for a .977 reception percentage, while playing in all six sets.
Northeast
Two players from LIU Brooklyn, Jiayi Zhang and Amanda Hubbard, were honored.
Zhang, a sophomore outside from China, averaged 3.12 kills, 1.38 blocks and 0.75 service aces per set.
Hubbard, a freshman setter, who earned her second her second NEC rookie-of-the-week honor, averaged 10.25 assists per set and 2.38 digs
The defensive POW was Ana Gonzalez of Sacred Heart. The senior libero had 31 digs in one win and leads the league with 4.31 digs per set.
Ohio Valley
The offensive POW is Krissa Gearring, a junior outside for Southeast Missouri.
Gearring had 43 kills to go with 29 digs over the two matches. She now has 15 double-doubles on the season.
Murray State senior libero Ellie Lorenz was the defensive POW for averaging 6.83 digs.
And there were co-setters, Kristen Stucker of Austin Peay and Hannah Stultz of Murray State.
Stucker recorded 78 assists and 13 digs over two matches.
Stultz had 84 assists to go with eight aces and 16 digs in two matches.
Patriot League
American’s Polish sophomore outside, Aleksandra Kazala, was the POW after she had 15 kills and no errors in 27 attempts and hit .556 in her only match. She also had an ace, nine digs, and two blocks.
Lauren Bright of Lehigh was the top freshman. The middle in three matches had 33 kills, 15 total blocks and hit .422.
Southern Conference
ETSU outside hitter Briana Allmon has been named the Southern Conference offensive player of the week, while UNCG libero Christina Gregory is the defensive POW.
ETSU went 3-0 and Allmon, a senior outside, averaged 4.10 kills per set and 0.80 blocks per set, while hitting .271.
Gregory had 51 digs in two matches. She also handled 22 services without recording an error.
Southland
Haley Tippett of Central Arkansas is the SLC offensive POW after averaging 3.83 kills and hitting .435 on 46 attempts.
Bryaunea Hall of UIW (University of the Incarnate Word) had 16 blocks in two matches, four solo, to be named the defensive POW.
Southwestern
Not happening.
Summit
Oral Roberts outside hitter Laura Milos was the Summit offensive POW and IUPUI’s middle blocker Abby Boatman and North Dakota State’s Mikaela Purnell shared the defensive honors.
Milos, a junior, averaged 5.67 kills per set with a .238 hitting percentage with four service aces. She has 417 total kills and is tied for the NCAA lead with 59 service aces.
Boatman averaged 2.5 blocks per set. And Purnell had her third match in a row with 30-plus digs, averaging 6.40 per set.
Sun Belt
Coastal Carolina junior outside hitter Leah Hardeman averaged 4.43 kills per set while hitting .448 and adding five service aces to be named Sun Belt POW.
Micah Dinwiddie, a freshman libero for Texas State, got the defensive honor and was freshman of the week after she had a career-high 31 digs to lead the Bobcats to a 3-1 road victory over UT Arlington. The total dig number was the most in a four-set match by a TXST player since Nov. 9, 2007. It was also the highest four-set total registered by a Sun Belt Conference player this season. She averaged 7.75 digs per set, while also adding three assists and one service ace.
Arkansas State senior setter Mallory Warrington averaged 13.17 assists per set in two wins and also had 23 digs to be named setter of the week.
West Coast
The WCC POW is Portland junior Hannah Troutman.
The outside hitter had 22 kills and 22 digs in her team’s upset of No. 11 BYU. Then she had 10 kills and five digs against San Diego.
Western Athletic
CSU Bakersfield’s Carol Grasso averaged 3.70 kills, 3.60 digs and 1.10 service aces per set as the senior outside from Brazil was named the WAC POW.
Other nominees included: Grand Canyon’s Heidi Carpenter, who averaged 7.00 assists, 2.11 digs and 0.78 aces … Emma Hagedorn of UMKC, who averaged 2.75 kills on .559 hitting and 0.75 blocks … NM State’s Sasha-Lee Thomas, who averaged 2.83 kills on .323 hitting and 1.33 blocks … Ragni Steen Knudsen of UT Rio Grande Valley, who averaged 4.64 kills, 1.55 digs and 0.45 service aces in three victories … and Utah Valley’s Kelcee Munk, who averaged 9.56 assists, 2.11 digs, 1.00 blocks and 0.33 aces.
