Monday, August 28, 2006

Following a 3-0 sweep through the Chicagoland Classic over the weekend, Valpo's Jessie Fox (Granger, Ind./Penn) and Brittany Marks (Elkhart, Ind./Memorial) have been named, respectively, the Mid-Continent Conference's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, the league announced today.

Fox, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, led the Crusaders with 42 kills over the three-match event, hitting .311. The senior had a team-high 19 kills in Friday night's win over UIC and followed that up with 11 kills vs. DePaul and 12 against Loyola (Chicago) on Saturday. Fox also tallied 11 blocks, two solos, on the weekend and moved into 10th place on Valpo's career solo blocks list with 44. This is the second Mid-Con Offensive Player of the Week award for Fox in her career.

Marks, Valpo's libero, was on of four Crusaders to land on the All-Tournament team after a strong performance on the Valpo backline. The sophomore followed up 18 and 19-dig efforts with a career-high 26 digs in the Brown and Gold's Saturday night five-game win over the Ramblers. Marks' 63 digs in the three matches gave her an average of 5.25 digs per game. For Marks, this is her second career Mid-Con Defensive Player of the Week award.


The Crusaders (3-0), the Mid-Con's only unbeaten team, put their perfect mark on the line Friday with a pair of major challenges in Notre Dame, Ind. Valpo will meet #6 Santa Clara at 11:00 a.m. before beginning the Shamrock Invitational at 6:00 p.m. against #21 Notre Dame, the tournament's host.