KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kendra Bittle of Corban University has been named the NAIA Women’s Volleyball Attacker of the Week and Sadie Byrd of Southern Oregon University has been named the NAIA Women’s Volleyball Defender of the Week. They were selected based on their performances from September 9-15 and were chosen out of a pool of conference/Continental Athletic Conference (Independents)/unaffiliated group nominees.
Bittle, a sophomore outside hitter from Central Point, Ore., completed one of her best career weeks, adding three more wins to help improve the Warriors to 5-0 in conference play. She pelted 38 kills (3.45 k/s) on a .245 average, including a career-high 17 kills on the road against No. 5-ranked SOU to hand the Raiders their first loss of the season. While making the transition to an all-around position, she added 15 digs and six block assists.
Byrd, a senior middle blocker from Maple Valley, Wash., broke her own SOU single-match school record with 14 blocks in Saturday's 4-set win over Bushnell. She recorded 19 blocks on the weekend (2.11 b/s) and added 15 kills (1.67 k/s) on a .250 average.