Alex Jupiter Named AVCA National Player Of The Week
November 02, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 2, 2010
LOS ANGELES - USC junior All-American Alex Jupiter (Paris, France/Redondo Union HS) was named Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week today after recording 42 kills over the weekend as the seventh-ranked Trojans defeated Washington State and Washington. She earned the honor after being named Pac-10 Conference Player of the Week yesterday and becomes the first player in the history of the USC women's volleyball program to earn national player of the week honors twice in a season.
She moved into fifth place on USC's career points list with 1,417.5 points after Saturday's win over the then-No. 7 Huskies. Jupiter finished with 30 kills against Washington, one off her career best. After getting only three kills in the first set, she came back to record eight kills in the second and nine in the third. With no errors, Jupiter hit a combined .607 in those two sets to lead the Trojans to a five-set victory. She also added 14 digs in the match.
For the week, Jupiter averaged 5.25 kills, 2.63 digs and 5.59 points per set, while hitting .388. Jupiter's honor marks the seventh time an athlete from USC has received the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week award.
She earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors on Sept. 6 after earning most outstanding player honors at the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic in Honolulu (Sept. 3-5). She posted 49 kills (4.45 kps) in three matches against three teams that were receiving votes in the coaches' poll with four aces, 26 digs (2.36 dps), 10 blocks (0.91 bps) and 61.0 points (5.55 pps). She did not have one reception error in 58 attempts on the weekend. Against New Mexico, she had 10 kills, seven digs and three solo blocks in a 3-0 sweep. In another 3-0 sweep, this time against Michigan State, she had 17 kills and six blocks while hitting .483 (17-3-29). In the tournament finale against No. 4 Hawai'i, she had 22 kills and 16 digs in a five-set win over the Rainbow Wahine.
