INDIANAPOLIS – Hillsdale junior middle blocker Allyssa Van Wienen (Grand Rapids, Mich.) was selected as the first Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week to begin the season.
 
Van Wienen is just the second Great Midwest Athletic Conference student-athlete to receive the honor since the 2012 season. She joins Cedarville’s Abby Shelton in rare company as a national weekly award winner from the AVCA.
 
Shelton won the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week honor in 2017.
 
Van Wienen helped the Chargers to a 3-1 record to start the season in Lakeland, Fla., at the Terrace Hotel Classic. Hillsdale also emerged as one of the AVCA’s Top 25 teams in the country, now ranked No. 19 in the first national poll.
 
Allyssa Van Wienen – Hillsdale College
Junior, Middle Blocker, 6-2 (Grand Rapids, Mich. – Grand Rapids Christian)

Individual Weekly Stats
SP: 17
K/S: 3.41
Hitting %: .349
D/S: 1.12
B/S: 1.00

Team Recap
September 6: No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul, W 3-2
September 6: (RV) Florida Southern, W 3-1
September 7: No. 17 Central Missouri, L 2-3
September 7: Indiana (PA), W 3-0

Head Coach: Chris Gravel
AVCA Rankings: This Week: 19, Last Week: RV
Had an outstanding week in leading the chargers to three wins in the opening week of the season...Knocked off then-No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul in five sets thanks to a team0high 21 kills and seven blocks from the junior middle...Hit at a .452 clip even when the team as a whole hit .242 for the match...Had another match-high 16 kills on .293 hitting to cap off an opening day with a pair of wins over AVCA nationally recognized programs...Completed the weekend with another 21 kills, 10 digs, and six blocks.

This is the second Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week in program history, and the first since Ashlee Crowder to home the award on September 22, 2009.
 
Each week Sports Imports and the AVCA recognize deserving student-athletes at the collegiate level who have demonstrated outstanding play on the court throughout the week of competition. A Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week is named for the different NCAA Divisions in court volleyball during both the men's and women's season.