by PORTLAND, Ore. – MSUB senior Ashlynn Ward (Standing Rock Sioux) was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s first Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week for 2016 announced Tuesday. The outside hitter was a consistent presence for MSUB during the team’s opening week in Hawaii and has stepped-up her role on the Yellowjacket squad this season.
“Ashlynn has been one of our most consistent players through preseason,” MSUB head coach Casey Williams said. “She gets a high-percentage of our balls and knows what to do with them. I am very excited she received player of the week recognition and think that it is well-deserved.”
Ward finished the four-match tournament in Hawaii with 67 kills and is leading the conference in attack percentage at .369 (67-15-141). The native of Rexburg, Idaho, finished with no fewer than 14 kills across each match, and completed a 21 kill performance against Chaminade on Friday. Ward is No. 5 in the GNAC in kills per set with 3.72.
With Ward’s assistance, the Yellowjackets are leading the league in hitting percentage at .233 (224-88-584) and are fifth in kills per set at 12.44.
Stepping-up her playing time for the Yellowjackets this season, Ward has been a presence in the defensive court. She came away with 21 digs to open the season, including nine in the win against BYU-Hawaii. At the net, Ward has amassed 10.0 total blocks, already a quarter of her total from last season.
In the match against the Chaminade Silverswords, Word posted 21 kills on a .594 attack percentage (21-2-32), making just two errors on 32 attempts. The 21 kills is two shy of her career-high of 23. In four years as a Yellowjacket, Ward has accumulated 825 total kills and needs an additional 32 to move onto the MSUB all-time top-10.
