NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Utah Valley's Erica Nish and Texas-Pan American's Juri Franzen have been named Great West Conference Volleyball Players of the Week after outstanding performances last week. The final weekly awards of the 2012 season were announced Tuesday by the conference office.
Nish won the offensive award after helping UVU earn a share of the GWC title, leading the Wolverines to two crucial road victories last week. The senior from Hooper, Utah, tallied 26 kills for the week, a 3.71 kill per set average and a .438 attack percentage. Nish put up 14 kills in a three-set sweep over Chicago State on Saturday and 12 in a four-set win at NJIT on Thursday.
This weekly honor is Nish's first of the season.
The defensive honor went to Franzen, who posted 71 digs in three conferences matches last week. In a five-set loss to NJIT, the senior from Honolulu, HI, posted 33 digs. In a 3-1 win at Chicago State, Franzen recorded 22 digs, and the victory assured UTPA the No. 3 seed in the upcoming GWC Tournament. She finished the week with 16 digs in a road sweep by Houston Baptist and averaged 5.9 digs per set for the week. The libero broke the UTPA record for 20-plus dig matches and now has 16 for her career.
Utah Valley will host the 2012 Great West Conference Volleyball Tournament on Nov. 16-17. The second-seeded Wolverines will open play in the tournament Friday at 5 p.m. against No. 3 Texas-Pan American.
James Warnick is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information about Wolverine athletics, visit www.WolverineGreen.com.