IRVINE, Calif.—Three University of Hawai’i women’s volleyball players earned Big West Player of the Week honors for the final week of the regular season. Amber Igiede picked up her third overall Offensive Player of the Week award; Kate Lang was tabbed Setter of the Week for the third time; and Caylen Alexander set a new UH record, receiving her sixth Freshman of the Week award on Monday.
Igiede was all over the court in UH’s two road wins en route to clinching the Rainbow Wahine’s third-straight Big West title. Over the weekend, Igiede averaged 5.44 points, 4.11 kills, 1.22 blocks, 1.00 digs and 0.56 aces per set while hitting .500 (37-5-64). Igiede has started all 28 contests for UH and reached double-digit kills in 26 of them. In Hawai’i’s title-clinching win at UC Santa Barbara, she put down a match-high 18 kills (tied with Riley Wagoner) while hitting at a .417 clip (18-3-36) and had a match-high five blocks. She added three digs, two assists and an ace to fill her stat line. Igiede then followed that by putting down a match-highs of 19 kills, a .607 hitting percentage, four service aces and six blocks (tied with Alexander). It marked the third time this season that the middle blocker from Baton Rouge, La. has hit over the .600 mark. Her four aces were a career-high for the junior. This is Igiede’s sixth overall weekly conference honor. She was named BW Freshman of the Week on Nov. 25, 2019; has been tabbed BW Defensive Player of the Week three times (Nov. 15, 2021; Sept. 5, 2022; Oct. 31, 2022); and she has been voted Offensive Player of the week three times (Nov. 15, 2021. Oct. 31, 2022.
Sophomore Kate Lang earned her third Setter of the Week award on Monday after helping lead UH to a .316 combined team hitting percentage this past weekend. She had 89 assists, averaging 9.89 assists/set at a .442 set percentage. The Keller, Texas native tied her career-high dishing out 55 assists ans set a new career-high with six kills in UH’s win at UCSB. Against the Gauchos she also recorded her eighth double-double of the season with 17 digs. Lang also added a pair of aces and two blocks at The Thunderdome. Against CSUN, She split time at setter with Mylana Byrd, but still recorded 34 assists with six digs, three kills, two blocks and an ace. She previously earned Setter of the Week honors on Sept. 26 and Nov. 7 in 2022. Last year, she was a two-time Freshman of the Week award winner (Sept. 27 & Oct. 4, 2021)
At UCSB, Alexander came back from a shaky third set to help power past the Gauchos to clinch the BW crown. Alexander put down 16 total kills—five in the fourth set and another two in the fifth. She also had five digs with two aces to increase her team leading mark at 33. Against CSUN, she pounded 12 kills while hitting .333 (12-3-27) but it was her career-high six blocks that stood out in the match. For the weekend the rookie from Alpharetta, Ga., totaled 28 kills, 3.11 kill/set and a .306 hitting percentage. Alexander’s league-high sixth Big West Freshman of the Week award breaks former UH standout Hanna Hellvig’s record of five set in 2019. Alexander previously earned the award on Sept. 5, Sept. 26, Oct. 3, Oct. 10 and Oct. 31.
This past weekend, Hawai’i captured its third-consecutive Big West title to earn the league’s automatic bid to its 29th-straight and 40th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The ‘Bows open the NCAA First Round against LSU at the Maples Pavilion (Stanford, Calif.) on Friday, Dec. 2.
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