PORTLAND, Ore. - The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) released its weekly award selections on Monday. Alaska's Rilee White and Kristina Head garnered Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honors after victories over RV Simon Fraser and Western Washington last week.
White grabbed her first-career Offensive Player of the Week accolade after her historic week. She began Alaska's final two regular-season contests by breaking the GNAC aces record, overtaking UAA's Ellen Floyd's career mark of 213, and finished the match with four aces. She added two more in the straight-set victory over Western Washington while also cracking the 1,000 career kills mark to make her the first GNAC player to reach 1,000 kills, 1,000 digs and 200 aces. White totaled 21 kills over the two matches, averaging three per set. She also notched three assists for the Nanooks. Finally, White posted 18 digs and seven blocks.
"Rilee is a fantastic all-around athlete, and she excels in every aspect of the game," said head coach Brian Scott. "We rely on her to handle the pressures of passing well to set up an offense, score points at the net and service line, and to make defensive plays. She does it all extremely well and is the humblest athlete in her accomplishments."
Head took home Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career, leading all GNAC players in blocks during the two wins. She tallied 13 total blocks, two of which were solo, and averaged 1.86 per set. In the win against WWU, she notched her second-highest block total of the season with eight. Head ended the week with five digs, nine kills, an ace and an assist.
"Kris is such a great leader on this team and it shows whenever she steps on the court," said Scott. "She scores in so many different ways in her play. It can come from her attack or the service line, as well as with blocking and frequently saving points in her one rotation of defense. She always finds ways to contribute."
The Nanooks are awaiting the selections for the NCAA DII Regional Championships, which will be announced today at 3:30 p.m. AKST.
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