Mid-American Conference

MAC East Offensive Player of the Week
Tia Jimerson, Ohio, MB
Freshman - Sugar Hill, Ga./Norcross
Freshman middle blocker Tia Jimerson helped the Ohio volleyball team (11-13, 5-5 MAC) split a pair of road matches against Mid-American Conference West Division foes last weekend. She hit a team-best .480 and led the team with 30 kills (3.75 per set). She also recorded two total blocks (one solo, one assisted; 0.25 per set), one assist and one dig. Jimerson hit .381 and provided Ohio with 12 kills as the Bobcats up a key 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20) win over Northern Illinois on Friday (Oct. 20) at Victor E. Court in DeKalb, Ill. She also added an assisted block, an assist and a dig. On Saturday (Oct. 21), Jimerson hit a team-best .522 with a team-high 18 kills and added a solo block, but Ohio suffered a 3-1 loss (14-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-19) loss to Western Michigan at University Arena in Kalamazoo, Mich.
 
MAC West Offensive Player of the Week
Rachel Bontrager, Western Michigan, Outside Hitter
Freshman - Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso HS
Rachel Bontrager averaged 5.62 kills per set and 6.31 points per set on the weekend as Western Michigan defeated Kent State and Ohio at home. Against the Golden Flashes she tied a career high with 25 kills and hit .393 as the Broncos won 3-1, also contributing with nine digs and two blocks. Against the Bobcats she had 20 kills and a .255 hitting percentage as WMU won 3-1. Bontrager also had two aces and two solo blocks in the win over Ohio. The freshman raised her season kills per set average to 3.28 and her points per set average to 3.87, both team-bests.  
 
MAC East Defensive Player of the Week
Kallie Seimet, Bowling Green, Libero
Junior - Oregon, Ohio/Clay
With 42 digs in a 3-1 win at Toledo, junior libero Kallie Seimet led the Bowling Green squad defensively by averaging 10.50 digs per set on the night. The performance marked her fourth match of the season with 40+ digs, while the Oregon, Ohio native also posted an error-free reception on the weekend, and has now had five-straight matches with a perfect serve receive.
 
MAC West Defensive Player of the Week
Maurissa Leonard, Toledo, Libero
Junior - Oregon, Ohio/St. Ursula
Led the team on the defensive end with 8.86 digs per set, tallying 26 against Miami and 36 against BGSU…had double-digit digs in three sets this weekend: 13 in the third set against Miami, 11 in the first set against BGSU, 10 in the third set against BGSU…Saturday was the third 30-plus dig performance of the season for her…has had at least 20 digs in six of her last seven matches…her 5.52 digs per set would blow the current school record out of the water (4.79), she already holds spots two and four on the single-season digs/set list…Has 491 digs on the season and 1,568 for her career, second-most all-time in Toledo history…she is averaging 6.31 digs/set in conference matches.
 

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Other Nominees: 

Kate Avila, Ball State, Libero
Sophomore - Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown
Sophomore libero Kate Avila turned in the best statistical weekend of her career, leading the Ball State defense with a 7.75 digs-per-set average and logging a perfect reception percentage in 32 attempts. In Friday’s win over MAC-leading Bowling Green, Avila nearly doubled up NCAA digs leader Kallie Seimet, recorded a then season-high 29 digs over four sets compared to 17 for Seimet. She also finished the match with a perfect reception percentage on 12 attempts. In Saturday’s match versus MAC-leading Miami, Avila took it up a notch with a season-high 33 digs, helping the Ball State defense set a program record for digs in a four-set match in the rally scoring era (2001-present) with 103 team digs. She also continued to shine in reception, successfully passing all 22 serves she faced in the match. Overall, Avila has tallied at least 20 digs in each of the last five matches to help her climb to 18th in program history with 938 career digs. She has also logged perfect reception percentages in each of the last six matches.
 
Annie Beasley, Toledo, MH/OH
Senior - Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North
Led the team this past weekend in total kills (18), kills per set (2.57), hitting percentage (.341), total blocks (4.0), and blocks per set (0.57)…Against the RedHawks she had six kills and hit .286 while adding a solo block…against the Falcons she had a match-high 12 kills and hit .370, all while adding in three block assists…In the third set against BGSU that Toledo won 25-21, she efficiently connected on three of her five attack attempts to hit .600…Had five kills in the final set of the match against BGSU…Saturday was her fourth conference match this season with at least 10 kills…Leads the Rockets this year in hitting at .341 and blocks per set with 0.94…her .341 hitting percentage this season would be the best single-season percentage in school history if she keeps pace.
 
Larra Bickelhaupt, Buffalo, Libero
Junior - Cape Coral, FL/Oasis/Hillsborough CC
Junior libero Larra Bickelhaupt led the Bulls to a pair of road victories this past weekend at Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan, riding their winning streak to four. Bickelhaupt led the Bulls with 19 digs in the three-set win over Eastern Michigan, while adding eight digs at CMU.  She was also dominant at the service line as she had nine aces in the two matches, including five at CMU. She had seven of the nine aces in the first set of matches. Bickelhaupt leads the Bulls with 301 digs and 34 service aces.
 
Kelsey Bittinger, Kent State, Outside Hitter
Senior - Strongsville, Ohio/Strongsville
Kelsey Bittinger posted a pair of double-doubles with totals of 33 kills (4.71/set) and 30 digs (4.29/set) in Kent State’s two matches over the weekend. Bittinger started the weekend with 14 kills and a pair of blocks at Western Michigan. She followed by nearly recording a double-double (10 kills/8 digs) in the record-setting first set alone at Northern Illinois, which the Huskies eventually won by a score of 43-41, which is the third highest-scoring set in NCAA Division I since the 25-point scoring format began in 2008 and a new conference record. The two-time All-MAC First Team performer delivered several big swings for the Golden Flashes with six of her kills coming after the 30-point mark. Bittinger finished with a match-high 19 kills to go with 17 digs. One of the MAC’s top six-rotation players over each of the past three seasons, Bittinger moved into third on Kent State’s career kills list (1,395) and fifth on the career digs list (1,251).
 
Jordan Bueter, Central Michigan, Outside Hitter
Senior - South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian
Central Michigan snapped a four-match losing streak with a 3-0 victory over Akron on Saturday night. Senior Jordan Bueter led the Chippewas offensively as she posted a 32.8 hitting percentage (24-of-58) and recorded six service aces. On Friday, CMU fell to Buffalo in three sets and the senior garnered nine kills and nine digs. Bueter posted a team-high 15 kills and four service aces in a three-set win over the Zips. The South Bend, Ind. native is averaging 4.80 points per set and 4.13 kills per set.
 
Challen Geraghty, Kent State, Libero
Senior - Louisville, Ky./Holy Cross
Libero Challen Geraghty is just the third player in Mid-American Conference history to record 2,300 digs and now has 2,311 for her career. Geraghty added 43 digs to her total (6.14/set) in Kent State’s two matches over the weekend. The two-time All-MAC First Team performer was at her best in Saturday’s record-setting first set at Northern Illinois. Geraghty notched 12 digs in the set, which NIU eventually won by a score of 43-41, which is the third highest-scoring set in NCAA Division I since the 25-point scoring format began in 2008 and a new conference record. She finished the night with a match-high 25 digs. In the first match of the weekend, Geraghty had 18 digs and six assists. She was not aced in 32 serve-receive opportunities. Following the weekend, Geraghty now has a career average of 5.35 digs per set, which is a MAC record and ranks 26 in NCAA Division I history.
 
Sydney LeMay, Western Michigan, Middle Blocker
Senior - Middleville, Mich./Thornapple Kellogg
Middle blocker Sydney LeMay averaged 1.38 blocks per set and had 11 of WMU’s 16 blocks on the weekend as the Broncos beat Kent State and Ohio. Against the Golden Flashes she had 6.0 blocks and seven digs, helping hold KSU to a .172 hitting percentage. LeMay also contributed with 16 kills and 19 total points. Against Ohio she had 5.0 blocks and four digs to help hold the Bobcats to a .162 hitting percentage. The senior also had 12 kills and 16 total points. LeMay’s defensive output for the season increased to 0.88 blocks per set.
 
Kaylee Martin, NIU, Outside Hitter
Freshman - Sterling, Ill./Sterling
NIU freshman Kaylee Martin averaged 4.57 digs per set as the Huskies split a pair of matches against Ohio and Kent State. In the Friday match against Ohio, Martin recorded 10 digs, along with a pair of blocks, in a four-set match against the Bobcats. The following night in a sweep over Kent State, Martin recorded 22 digs, a block and was perfect in 18 serve receptions. In the opening set against the Golden Flashes that went 43-41, tied for the third-longest set in the 25-point era, Martin tallied six digs. The Huskie freshman also tallied 3.71 kills and 3.93 points per game for the weekend.
 
Maeve McDonald, Miami, Libero
Senior - Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids
McDonald became the first RedHawk volleyball player to reach 2,000 digs for her career with 43 digs in only seven sets in Miami’s two wins last weekend. That was an impressive 6.14 digs per set average. She recorded 19 digs in the three-set win over Toledo on Friday. She broke the record with 24 digs in an important four-set victory at Ball State the next night on Saturday. Opponents served away from McDonald all weekend, as she was a perfect 16-for-16 on reception attempts. The Miami defense led by McDonald held to a .099 attack percentage for the weekend.
 
Andrea Mitrovic, Buffalo, Outside Hitter
Freshman - Mississiauga, Ontario/Silverthorne Institute
Freshman Andrea Mitrovic led the Bulls to a pair of 3-0 victories on the road this past weekend, the first time UB has ever won two 3-0 matches on the road in the same weekend. Mitrovic averaged 4.33 kills per set as she had 13 in each of the wins. Against Central Michigan, Mitrovic had 13 kills and just three errors as she hit .385, while adding five digs. On Saturday, she had 13 more kills against Eastern Michigan, while adding seven digs. She has now recorded double figures in kills in 10 straight matches as she is currently second on the team with 278 kills and tied for second with 210 digs.
 
Mallory Rajewski, Eastern Michigan, Setter
Junior - Midland, Mich./Midland
Rajewski, running as one of the Eagles’ 6-2 setters, averaged 7.86 assists per set in EMU’s two matches over the weekend, while also setting a new career-high in aces (two against Buffalo) and tying a career-best in kills (six against Akron). The Midland, Mich. native has been a steady hand for Eastern all season, surpassing the 1,500-career assist mark early in the 2017 campaign and leading the team in double-doubles with 12. She entered the Eastern Michigan All Time Top 10 in career assists, currently sitting in 9th place.
 
Katie Tomasic, Miami, Right Side Hitter
Senior - Livonia, Mich./Livonia Stevenson
Tomasic was dominant on the right side as she led Miami to a pair of wins on the road last week. She averaged 3.71 kills per set. She made errors in 60 total attempts for an impressive .383 attack percentage. Tomasic started the weekend off with eight kills and zero errors in a 3-0 win over Toledo. She followed that up with a team-leading 18 kills and a .395 attack percentage to lead Miami to a 3-1 victory over Ball State. Tomasic was responsible for 29.5 points this weekend, an average of 4.21 points per set.
 
Meg Wolowicz, NIU, Middle Blocker
Junior - Manitowoc, Wis./Manitowoc Lincoln
NIU junior Meg Wolowicz averaged 3.29 kills, 4.14 points and 1.14 blocks per set, while also hitting .354, in a pair of matches against Ohio and Kent State. In the weekend opener against the Bobcats, Wolowicz tallied 11 kills, hitting nearly .400 (.391) with just two errors. The Manitowoc, Wis., native also added three blocks and had 12.5 points in the match. Against Kent State, Wolowicz had 12 kills, hitting .320, with five blocks in a sweep of the Golden Flashes. Wolowicz scored 16.5 points, including a pair of aces, in the match. In the opening set that went 43-41, Wolowicz recorded six kills and three blocks, including a solo block and a block assist on the final two points of the set as the Huskies finally outlasted the Golden Flashes.