INDIANAPOLIS – Great Midwest Athletic Conference Volleyball Players of the Week for the East and West divisions were announced on Monday afternoon from the fifth week of the regular season.
The race in the East Division peaked last week as Lake Erie, Walsh and Malone, were all tied at 6-1 heading into Saturday. Lake Erie handed Walsh its first conference loss while Malone would wind up beating Lake Erie.
Malone, enjoying a current seven-match win streak, is now tied for first in the East standings with rival Walsh at 7-1. LEC is now 6-2 in league play after also falling to Cedarville this season.
The West is still in control by Findlay as the Oilers (15-1 overall) pushed their win streak to five straight. Findlay and Hillsdale both went unbeaten in their turn against the three West Virginia schools.
Kentucky Wesleyan posted two impressive road wins in back-to-back days in divisional play, going to Columbus to take out Ohio Dominican in four sets before replicating the same outcome at Cedarville on Saturday.
The Panthers improved to 7-11 and are now fourth in the West Division standings.
Nine of the 13 Great Midwest institutions will be reporting to the Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover on Oct. 13-14 in Aurora, Ill., at the Great Lakes Center to compete against the GLVC and GLIAC.
East Division Player of the Week
Veronica Gehring
Malone
Outside Hitter
Junior
Walton Hills, OH (Cuyahoga Heights HS)
Gehring came up with big contributions in a pivotal divisional battle against Lake Erie as she put down 17 kills against the Storm in a four-set finish.
She also had seven kills on just 14 swings against Ursuline as the Pioneers closed out the Arrows in straight sets.
On the week, Gehring hit .302 with 24 kills and six blocks. She averaged 3.79 points per game as the Pioneers won their sixth and seventh consecutive matches to improve to 12-4 overall this season.
Gehring leads Malone in kills (176) and kills per set (2.84) this season in 16 matches played. She his hitting .234 with 26 blocks and 38 digs.
West Division Player of the Week
Danielle Brouillette
Kentucky Wesleyan
Middle Blocker
Freshman
Stuart, FL (South Fork HS)
Brouillette and the Panthers are finding their stride midseason as they went into two tough road environments to come away with four-set victories.
The talented rookie middle combined for 22 kills and just two errors at Ohio Dominican and Cedarville while attacking with a .455 percentage.
She also averaged 1.25 blocks per set and a dig per set in the winning efforts. Brouillette tallied 11 kills on 24 swings at Ohio Dominican before finishing with 11 kills on 20 attempts vs. Cedarville.
She had six blocks vs. ODU and four more up front against the Yellow Jackets.
In her first season at KWC, Brouillette is now hitting .280 while averaging 1.92 kills, 0.71 digs and 0.67 blocks per set. She also has 18 service aces.