Monday, September 17, 2007

The Horizon League announced today that junior Allison Sears (Elkhart, Ind./Memorial) has been named its Offensive Player of the Week after earning All-Tournament honors last weekend at the Bowling Green Best Western Invitational.

Sears kicked off the weekend with a superb performance in the Crusaders’ sweep of Duquesne on Friday.  The junior racked up 17 kills and committed just two attack errors on 24 swings, good for a hitting percentage of .625, the best single-match performance in the Horizon League this year.  She also added three blocks, two digs and two service aces in the win, in which the Crusaders hit at an astounding .426 clip for the match.

Incredibly, Sears was nearly as effective in Valpo’s match the next morning versus DePaul, tallying 13 kills while making just two attack errors on 19 swings, giving her a hitting percentage of .579, the third-best single-match performance in the League this season.  Sears also chipped in thee blocks and two digs in the Valpo sweep.

Sears had another stellar match in the nightcap Saturday against the host Falcons, swinging at a .333 clip with 12 kills, three blocks and two digs.  She played only the first three games against Bowling Green, leading the Crusaders to within four points of a sweep before suffering an injury that kept her out of the rest of the match.

For the weekend, Sears hit at an amazing .507 clip while averaging 4.67 kills/game.  She also chipped in nine blocks and six digs over the three Crusader matches.  On the season, Sears ranks among the Horizon League’s finest in hitting percentage (.326, 5^th), kills (4.16/game, 3^rd), service aces (0.43/game, 3^rd) and blocks (1.11/game, 5^th).

Sears becomes the second Crusader to earn weekly honors from the Horizon League this year, joining Brittany Malicoat (Elkhart, Ind./Memorial), who received Defensive honors two weeks ago.  The award is the first conference weekly honor for Sears in her career, who was named to her fourth career All-Tournament team.