Albany's Eileen Nicole Rodriguez (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Colegia Ponceno) and Binghamton's Michelle Heck (Chicago, Ill./Ressurection) share America East Player of the Week accolades, while Northeastern's Kira Batura (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) and
Blair Buchanan (Muncie, Ind./Delta) of Albany repeat as Rookie of the Week and Setter of the Week respectively.
Rodriguez became the NCAA Division I career service aces leader with a season-high 11 against UMBC. She passed Seton Hall’s Casie Alexander (1990-93), the previous record holder with 416 aces. The 11-ace performance marked the 11th time that Rodriguez has reached double-figures during her career. Rodriguez, a left-hander who uses a jump-serve technique, already holds the NCAA single-season record with 207 service aces during the 2002 season. She now stands at 422 aces after adding one ace against Stony Brook.
In two matches last week, Heck posted 5.50 kills and 4.13 digs per game. She recorded a double-double with a career-high tying 26 kills and a career-high 23 digs against Stony Brook on Friday. She posted her second double-double of the week with 18 kills and 10 digs against UMBC on Saturday. In the match against Stony Brook, Heck had 72 kill attempts breaking the record of 66 which was set on September 21, 1996 by Nicole Canestrare. Heck also had a .412 hitting percentage against UMBC on Saturday.
Batura recorded her team-leading 10th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 14 digs against New Hampshire enroute to her league-leading fourth Rookie of the Week award. Batura totaled 17 kills and 2.83 kills per game over both matches last weekend. The rookie outside hitter posted 28 digs and 4.67 digs per game and also added one block for the week.
Buchanan, winner of three-straight and five total Setter of the Week honors on the season, tallied 129 assists (16.12 per game), 11 kills, 16 digs and three block assists in two matches this week. She set a career high and a school single-match record with 71 assists against Stony Brook, her sixth 50+ assist performance on the season. Buchanan also surpassed her season-best of 866 assists as a freshman.