Weekly Women's Volleyball Honors Earned By USF's Oliveira, Sippel, ONU's Serafimova

CHICAGO --- Perfect 2-0 weeks for both University of St. Francis and Olivet Nazarene University led to Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Player of the Week honors for those respective schools on Tuesday.  USF's Gabriela Oliveira (Natal, Brazil) was recognized as the Attacker of the Week with teammate Kaylie Sippel (Beecher, Ill.) collecting Setter of the Week honors, while ONU's Sara Serafimova (Skopje, Macedonia) gained Defender of the Week accolades.

Oliveria produced a pair of 20-plus kill matches, including a career-best 26 in a five-set win over Saint Xavier University last Tuesday.  In that same match, she delivered her seventh double-double of the season with her 15 digs.

The senior outside hitter added another 22 kills and nine digs on Thursday in a four-set victory over Governors State University.

All told, Oliveira averaged 5.3 kills and 2.7 digs over the two matches, while attacking at a .327 clip.

Sippel set Oliveira among other Saints in both matches with her 90 total assists, or 10.0 per set.  She also produced her tenth and 11th double-doubles of the season with her 3.4 digs-per-set average. 

The junior setter totaled 47 assists and 18 digs versus Saint Xavier and 43 assists and 13 digs opposite Governors State University to move the Saints into second place in the league (7-3).  Overall, they are 9-16. 

Serafimova established a new career high with her 35 digs in a four-set victory against Calumet College of St. Joseph on Thursday.  Two nights earlier, she put up 20 digs in a three-set win over Indiana University South Bend.

For the week, the junior outside hitter averaged 7.9 digs per set.

ONU's two victories last week have the Tigers at 7-4 in the conference and 10-11 overall. 

Other Attacker Nominees: Lindsay Paulsen (Judson), Viktoria Marysheva (Roosevelt), Halle Nicholas (Olivet Nazarene).

Other Defender Nominees: Kara Wicklund (Judson), Abby Sippel (St. Francis), Emily DeBlecourt (Roosevelt).

Other Setter Nominees: Isa Grana (Roosevelt), Hadleigh Loitz (Olivet Nazarene).