More than half the time the ball was set to Paige VanderWall last week, it resulted in a point for the Hillsdale College volleyball team. Pulling off that feat in one match is noteworthy. Doing it across a three-match week is award-worthy.
VanderWall, a senior right-side hitter for Hillsdale College, was named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference West Division Player of the Week Monday afternoon. She's the first Charger to win a weekly conference award this year, and surely won't be the last.
In matches versus Ohio Valley, Ashland and Missouri-St. Louis, VanderWall was a dominant force on offense, compiling 45 kills, averaging five per set for the week. Her 20 kills against Ashland were the second-most in a match in her career. In her home season debut Thursday against the Fighting Scots, she needed only two sets to put down 9 kills in leading Hillsdale to a 3-0 win.
She put on a show in Saturday afternoon's 3-0 win over Missouri-St. Louis, leading Hillsdale with 16 kills against just one hitting error.
For the week, she had a .519 hitting percentage, an absurdly good number in a three-match stretch. She had 45 kills and 5 errors in 77 total attempts. On defense, she had 18 digs, 2 total blocks and picked up 6 assists for Hillsdale. This is the second time the reigning G-MAC Player of the Year has won conference player of the week honors. She is originally from East Kentwood, Michigan.