AMHERST, N.Y. -- For the first time since week five of the 2022 season, Daemen University women's volleyball sweeps the East Coast Conference weekly awards.
Giselle Giraud (Orlando, Fla.),
Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.),
Dunja Masic (McHenry, Ill.) and
Charlotte Koerber (Munich, Germany) were named ECC Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week, Setter of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively,
the league announced on Monday for competitions taking place Sept. 18-24. Daemen has been represented in all four ECC Weekly Awards in 2023.
Giraud, a 5-foot-11 senior outside hitter/right side, earned her first career conference weekly award, taking home the ECC Player of the Week honor after a big weekend. She tallied double-digit kills in all three matches, totaling 46 kills (3.83 kills per set) for a .422 hitting percentage. Giraud added 10 total digs and two blocks for 47.5 points on the weekend. On Sunday, she led the Wildcats in their thrilling five-set victory over Molloy with a career-high 24 kills (4.8 kills per set) with just five errors on 42 attacks for a team-high .452 hitting percentage.
On the year, Giraud ranks second on the team in kills with 149 (ranking third in the ECC) and averages 3.17 kills per set with a .372 hitting percentage (second in the league). The senior leads the team in blocks alongside fellow senior
Vanessa Kuliga with 20 total blocks on the year, averaging 0.43 blocks per set. She has started in 13 of Daemen's 14 matches so far this season.
Brundage picks up her second straight ECC Defensive Player of the Week honor after leading the team defensively in all three matches. She totaled 52 digs to average 4.22 digs per set, and posted her sixth 20-dig match in Sunday's 3-2 thriller over Molloy, finishing with 21 on the day. Brundage totaled 41 receptions and added 15 assists, two aces and two kills over the course of the weekend.
The two-time All-Conference libero leads the league in digs with 232 on the season, averaging a league-high 5.16 digs per set. She has a .966 reception percentage, scooping up 177 receptions this season with just six total errors. Brundage ranks third on the team with 12 service aces this season.
Masic, a 5-foot-9 senior setter, earns her first ECC Setter of the Week of 2023 after starting in two of Daemen's three matches on the weekend. She totaled 74 assists to average 9.25 assists per set, while adding 19 total digs. Masic posted her first double-double of the season on Sunday with 14 digs and a career-high 53 assists (10.6 assists/set) over Molloy while running the Wildcat offense to 69 kills for a .244 hitting percentage. In Sunday's match, Masic tallied her 1,000th career assist.
The senior leads the team with 301 assists on the season to average 8.14 assists per set (fifth-most in the ECC). Masic ranks second on the team with 19 service aces, averaging 0.51 aces per set.
Koerber takes home her fourth straight ECC weekly award, earning the ECC Rookie of the Week for the second time this season. She totaled double-digit kills in all three matches over the weekend, leading the Wildcats offensively in two of the three matches for a total of 50 kills to average 4.17 kills per set. Koerber posted two double-doubles, tallying 30 total digs on the weekend (2.5 digs/set), and finished with a .278 hitting percentage, adding seven aces, one solo block and 58 total points (she totaled two 20+ point performances on Saturday and Sunday).
She leads the team with 177 kills, averaging 3.85 kills per set, both of which rank second in the ECC. Koerber also leads the team with 26 service aces (0.57 aces per set ranks fifth in the league), while ranking second on the team with 133 digs (2.89 digs/set) and a team-high 246 receptions this season for a .947 reception percentage.
The Wildcats went 3-0 over the weekend, first topping Southern Connecticut State 3-0 on Friday night in their final match before ECC play began. On Saturday, the Wildcats cruised to a 3-0 victory over Queens in their conference opener, and picked up a big 3-2 win over Molloy on Sunday in a rematch of the 2022 ECC Championship match. 10-4 Daemen returns to Lumsden Gymnasium on Wednesday for a midweek match against longtime rival Roberts Wesleyan at 6 PM.
Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
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