Amanda Walker Takes Second SCIAC Offensive Player of the Week Award for CMS Volleyball

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Senior Amanda Walker was named the SCIAC Women's Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, the league office announced today.

Walker earned the honor this week after helping CMS to a perfect 3-0 week that moved the Athenas back into a tie for first place in the league standings with wins over Cal Lutheran, Whittier and Chapman. Walker had a career-high tying 23 kills to lead CMS to a five-set win over Cal Lutheran on Tuesday, matching her previous high which she set last year at Whittier. 

In this year's win at Whittier on Friday, Walker came through with 17 kills and only one error in 50 swings (an unlucky error which came when her attack hit the antenna before ending up in play). She added seven more kills in a dominant win over Chapman (25-12, 26-24, 25-12) which put CMS in a tie for first with the Panthers and gave the Athenas the potential tiebreaker edge. 

Earlier this season, Walker was named the SCIAC Offensive Player of the Week after helping CMS to a win over No. 1 Emory by hitting .591 with 15 kills in only 22 attempts. She now leads CMS with 250 kills this season, after totaling 407 last year, the third-highest total in program history, on her way to third-team All-America honors. The Athenas have been honored five times as a team, with senior Phoebe Madsen and junior Melanie Moore each winning Offensive Player of the Week once, and senior libero Sarah Tritschler capturing a Specialist of the Week honor. 

CMS will be back in action tomorrow when it travels to Caltech, and then returns home on Friday for its Senior Day match with Pomona-Pitzer at 7 p.m., when Walker will be honored along with fellow seniors Madsen, Tritschler and Lina Aluzri.