Aug. 27, 2012
PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- Fresh off a Most Valuable Player performance at the Tiger Invitational (Fri-Sat., Aug. 24-25), University of Michigan junior outside hitter Lexi Erwin (Spring, Texas/Woodlands College Park) has been named the Big Ten Conference's Volleyball Co-Player of the Week, it was announced today (Monday, Aug. 27). The award is Erwin's first career conference weekly honor.
Erwin, who shares the award with Nebraska's Lauren Cook, helped the Maize and Blue to a 4-0 record and the Tiger Invitational crown this past weekend (Fri-Sat., Aug. 24-25). She averaged a Big Ten-leading 5.87 kills per set and had a .443 hitting percentage in the four matches. That included a career-high 29 kills in the five-set win over Virginia Tech on Aug. 25. In that match, Erwin had just two errors in 67 swings for a .403 hitting percentage and added 13 digs for her first double-double of the season. In the three-set win against host Missouri, Erwin had 20 kills and 10 digs for her second double-double of the day. She opened the season hitting .600 (16-1-25) in a straight-set win over Nicholls State and tied a then-career high with 23 kills and added nine digs in the win over North Florida Friday afternoon. She also had nine service aces and nine blocks in the four matches and leads the team with 102 points (6.8/set).
Erwin's Player of the Week Award is Michigan's first weekly conference honors since Lexi Zimmerman was selected on Oct. 11, 2010.
In other conference awards, Nebraska's Cook was named the Setter of the Week, Penn State's Katie Slay was the Defensive Player of the Week and Indiana's Katie Gallagher earned Freshman of the Week honors.
Michigan will open its home schedule with three matches in the adidas/Michigan Invitational. The Maize and Blue will face in-state foe Central Michigan this Friday (Aug. 31) at 7 p.m. in Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines then will have two matches on Saturday, Sept. 1, playing UMBC at 11 a.m. and Arkansas at 7:30 p.m.
Contact: Kent Reichert (734) 763-4423
