For the second time in the past three weeks, Lexi Sun has earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors.
The senior outside hitter racked up 26 kills in a pair of sweeps against Iowa last week, helping the Huskers improve to 12-2 on the season.
Sun led the Huskers with 14 kills on .333 hitting, 12 digs and two aces in a 3-0 win in Iowa City last Wednesday, and she followed that up with 12 kills on .526 hitting six digs and three blocks in a sweep over the Hawkeyes at the Devaney Center on Saturday.
Sun is averaging 3.98 kills per set this season and is up to .258 hitting after a slow start to the season. She’s hit .250 or better in seven straight matches. Sun also took home Big Ten Player of the Week (the first such honor of her career) on March 8.
Ohio State’s Mac Podraza (Setter of the Week), Penn State’s Jenna Hampton (Defensive Player of the Week) and Illinois’ Raina Terry (Freshman of the Week) rounded out the Big Ten’s weekly award winners.
Nebraska remained at No. 5 in this week’s AVCA Coaches Poll. In fact, the entire top 10 remained unchanged. No. 1 Wisconsin (56 of 60 first-place votes) returned to action for the first time in a month on Sunday, taking down No. 4 Minnesota 3-1. Both teams were missing key players including their starting setters.
Ohio State and Purdue remained at No. 9 and No. 10, respectively, while Penn State jumped one spot to No. 11 after Utah, now at No. 12, split a pair of games with Colorado.
Nebraska will hit the road this week for a pair of matches in Ann Arbor. The Huskers will face Michigan on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT and on Friday at 6 p.m., both televised on Big Ten Network.