Binghamton's Anne Crocus (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) and Blair Buchanan (Muncie, Ind./Delta) of Albany have been named America East Player of the Week and Setter of the Week, respectively, while Northeastern's Kira Batura (Downers Grove South, Ill./Downers Grove South) and Hartford's Jennifer Monroy share this week's Rookie of the Week honors. The accolades were handed out on Monday (September 27).
Crocus wins her second straight Player of the Week award, and her third out of four on the season. The senior middle blocker averaged 4.29 kills and 1.57 blocks per game, while hitting for a solid .387 on the week. Crocus helped lead the Bearcats to a second-place finish at the Binghamton Invitational and was named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts. Earlier in the week versus a quality Syracuse team, she nailed a match-high 14 kills and 10 blocks to lead the Bearcats.
Batura and Monroy each win their second such award of the season. Batura averaged 2.81 kills and 2.38 digs per game on the week and was named to the Sheraton/Pennsylvania All-Tournament Team for her efforts. Monroy, an outside hitter, tallied 2.81 kills per game and 3.12 digs per game as the Hawks went 2-2 over four matches last week. She notched double-doubles against Providence (13 kills, 11 digs), Columbia (10 kills, 18 digs) and West Virginia (12 kills, 18 digs) and leads the team in kills (183) and ranks second in kills per game (2.95) on the season.
Buchanan is another back-to-back award winner as she is named Setter of the Week. Buchanan finished the week with 141 assists, which included an 12.82 assists per game average. Her 65 assists against Boston College came up one short of UAlbany’s single-game assists record. She also finished with 16 kills on 27 attempts for a .370 hitting percentage and finished second on the team with 34 digs on the week.