The American Volleyball Coaches Association has announced today that University of Maryland Eastern Shore outside hitter Saitaua Iosia has been honored as the Sports Imports Division I Player of the Week.
The AVCA honors the top weekly performance in all three Divisions of NCAA volleyball. This is the second time that Iosia has won this weekly award, the last time being on November 8th, 2011. She currently is the only ever MEAC player to have been recognized with this award and has been named Division I Player of the Week two of the last five times the recognition has been given.
The last person to earn a second AVCA Division I Player of the Week was Kelly Murphy of Florida, who got a weekly honor in 2010 and 2011.
"I'm honored to be named for this award," says Iosia, "I could not have done it without my teammates, my coaching staff, and all the support I get from my friends and my family."
"It was a great opening weekend for our team," says head coach Don Metil, "Saitaua's level of play and consistent hitting efficiencies on the outside were some of the best performances since my time here at UMES. She is well deserving of the first AVCA weekly award this season."
The reigning MEAC Player of the Week led the Hawks to three victories this past weekend to win the SFC Terrier Invitational. UMES defeated NJIT, tournament host St. Francis (NY) and Radford, all in four sets, to start the season at 3-0.
Iosia, the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year, earned a double double in all three matches, leading off with 21 kills and 14 digs on Friday against NJIT. The next day, she followed up with 19 kills and 16 digs against St. Francis, and ended Saturday hitting .408 against Radford, tallying 24 kills and 17 digs. In total, Iosia hit .359 over the weekend with 64 kills and 47 digs and seven blocks.
To view the AVCA's page of the award, visit its web site here: http://avca.org/divisions/division-one-women/player-of-the-week/