Tuesday, October 1, 2019

LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a well-rounded performance over two matches that helped her team improve to 4-0 in the GNAC standings, Alaska junior setter Cate Whiting has been named by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) as its Division II Player of the Week.

Also selected on Monday as the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, Whiting paced the Nanooks to a pair of come-from-behind victories with totals of 77 assists, 11 kills, eight aces, 21 digs and five blocks in two matches. She averaged 8.56 assists and 0.89 aces per set in nine sets.

This is the second career AVCA Player of the Week award for Whiting. She also earned the honor almost exactly a year ago, on Oct. 9, 2018, with a similar all-around performance.

In Tuesday’s four-set win over in-state rival Alaska Anchorage, where the Nanooks rebounded from one set down to win, Whiting finished just short of a triple-double with totals of 32 assists, nine digs, eight kills and four aces. She hit .538 in the match. In Thursday’s five-set win over Montana State Billings on Thursday, where the Nanooks came back from a 2-1 deficit to win. Whiting was just as effective with totals of 45 assists. 12 digs, three kills, four aces and four blocks.

Whiting enters the week ranked fifth in the GNAC with 9.33 assists per set. She also boasts averages of 1.02 kills, 0.37 aces, 2.77 digs and 0.65 blocks per set.

Alaska enters the week with a 7-5 overall record and is one of two teams in the GNAC with a perfect 4-0 conference record. Whiting and the Nanooks will attempt to go to 6-0 with home matches against Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday.