Oct. 18, 2011

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - North Dakota's Nikki Husfeldt and Houston Baptist's Courtney Whittleman have been named Great West Conference Volleyball Players of the Week after outstanding performances last week. The honors were announced Tuesday by the conference office.

Husfeldt, a redshirt freshman from Andover, Minn., was named Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 12.25 assists per set in the Fighting Sioux's three wins last week. She posted 50 assists in a 3-1 win on Thursday at HBU while setting a new season-high and just missing her personal record by four. On Saturday, despite sharing setting duties in a sweep at Texas-Pan American, Husfeldt still managed 14 assists during her one set of play, helping set UND up for a season-high .360 hitting percentage against the Broncs. Her stellar week ended with 34 assists in UND's sweep at Texas-A&M Corpus Christi on Sunday, and her two kills and 4.5 points against the Islanders is Husfeldt's second-best performance in a three-set match this season.

The defensive award went to Whittleman for the second straight week as the senior from Houston, Texas, became HBU's all-time digs leader with 29 digs in the Huskies' 3-1 victory over Utah Valley. The libero holds the current record of 1,977 and is on pace to become the first Husky with 2,000 digs. Whittleman had 25 digs in the 3-1 loss to North Dakota and averaged 6.75 digs per set in the two matches. Whittleman, the reigning GWC Defensive Player of the Year, has recorded double-digit digs in all 23 matches this season and 40-straight matches in which she's played at least three sets dating back to last season. She has recorded 20 or more digs in 11 matches this season.

Other offensive nominees for this week's honor included Victoria Weatherly (Houston Baptist), Janet Snell (NJIT), Sarah Davis (Texas-Pan American) and Erica Nish (Utah Valley). Others nominated for the defensive award were Julia Colombo (NJIT), Lisa Parlich (North Dakota), Juri Franzen (Texas-Pan American) and Sarah Clement (Utah Valley).