COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – MSU Denver's
Rylee Hladky and
Ashlyn Cianciulli have been named players of the week in volleyball by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Hladky has been named the Offensive Player of the Week, while Cianciulli has been named Defensive Player of the Week. It's the second time this season, and the sixth time in her career, that Hladky has won the award, while Cianciulli won it for the first time this season and the third time in her career.
Both standouts for the Roadrunners – who moved up to No. 2 in Division II in this week's national poll – reached career 1,000 milestones last weekend. Hladky became the 16
th player in program history with 1,000 kills, while Cianciulli became the 23
rd with 1,000 digs.
But they were also incredibly productive and dominated their positions all weekend.
Not only did
Rylee Hladky break through the career 1,000-kill milestone on Friday, she also on Saturday -- in the RMAC's biggest match of the week -- dominated in a sweep of CSU-Pueblo. Hladky hammered a season-high 17 kills while hitting .457 (only one error in 35 attacks) against the ThunderWolves. That came after banging 12 kills on .357 hitting (two errors, 28 attacks) in a sweep of UCCS.
For the week, Hladky had 29 kills on outstanding .413 hitting, and she added two service aces in each match. She recorded a total of 34.5 points for 5.8 per set -- a per-set average better than two of the three National Players of the Week so far this season. For the season, Hladky leads the RMAC with 4.4 points per set and ranks second in both kills per set (3.6) and aces per set (0.51). In league play she's first in kills per set (4.2), first in aces per set (0.54) and first in points per set (5.2). She now has 1,021 career kills to rank 15th in program history.
Cianciulli surpassed 1,000 career digs while playing fantastic defense in wins over UCCS and CSU-Pueblo -- the matchup with the ThunderWolves was the biggest match in the RMAC for the week, as both teams entered with records of 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the league. Not only did Cianciulli compile 33 digs in only six sets (5.5 per set), but she also served three aces against CSU-Pueblo. Cianciulli ranks seventh in the RMAC with 4.3 digs per set, and in league matches-only she ranks third at 5.2 per set. She's now 23rd in program history with 1,019 career digs.
