Tuesday, September 18, 2018

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Less than a month into her college career and a day after picking up her first GNAC Volleyball Player of the Week award, Alaska Anchorage freshman middle blocker Eve Stephens has been named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division II National Player of the Week.

Stephens played a key role in three wins for the Seawolves last week, finishing with 55 kills, eight blocks and a .427 hitting percentage. The victories allowed the Seawolves to improve to 10-2 overall and 3-1 in GNAC play.

In Tuesday’s four-set win over Alaska, Stephens racked up 21 kills and produced a .656 hitting percentage, which ranks as the No. 6 hitting percentage in a match in GNAC history (with a minimum 18 kills).

At Rocky Mountain on Thursday, Stephens led the Seawolves with 23 kills along with four blocks in the five-set win over the No. 6 (NAIA) ranked Battlin’ Bears. Seven of those kills came in the fifth set. Stephens finished the road trip with 11 kills and two blocks in a three-set sweep at Montana State Billings.

Stephens enters the week ranked fifth in the GNAC this season with a .334 hitting percentage. Her 3.04 kills and 0.91 blocks per set rank 11th among conference players.

Alaska Anchorage returns home for a pair of challenging matches, hosting Simon Fraser on Thursday and Western Washington on Saturday.