COLORADO SPRINGS -- Sunny Mahe, a 6-2 junior right side/opposite hitter for the 14th-ranked BYU Cougars (9-1), was selected the AVCA/Sports Imports Division I National Player of the Week Monday. Mahe also garnered Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honors for the second time this year and the third time during her career.
Mahe hit a team-best .554 attack percentage to guide the Cougars to three 3-0 victories last week with wins over then-No. 19 UC Santa Barbara, New Mexico and Air Force. She averaged 4.56 kills, 1.00 blocks, 1.78 digs, 1.11 assists and 0.44 service aces per game. For the week, she tallied 41 kills with just five attack errors on 65 swings.
Mahe charted 12 kills, five blocks, six digs and six assists against UC Santa Barbara while hitting .357. She added 13 kills as part of a .647 attack percentage versus New Mexico, followed by a MWC season-high .750 hitting percentage with a match-best 16 kills on 20 attacks against Air Force. Mahe has topped the .600 hitting percentage mark in a match four times this year.
Mahe has tallied double-digit kills in each of the last nine matches and ranks third in MWC matches for kills per game (4.33) and hitting percentage (.550).
The native of Allen, Texas, is the third BYU player to win the AVCA National Player of the Week award. Current teammate Nina Puikkonen and former Cougar Amy Steele Gant also have won the award, both winning it twice. A first-team AVCA All-American, Puikkonen was the only player in the country to receive the honor twice last season. Gant was recognized in 1996 and 1997.
2001 AVCA Sports Imports Division I National Players of the Week:
Sept. 4 -- Lizzy Fitzgerald, Sr., S, Wisconsin
Sept. 10 -- Amber Holmquist, Jr., MB, Nebraska
Sept. 17 -- No selection
Sept. 24 -- Kim Willoughby, So. OH, Hawai'i
Oct. 1 -- Sunny Mahe, Jr., RS/Opp, BYU
2001 Mountain West Conference Players of the Week:
Sept. 4 -- Sunny Mahe, Jr., RS/Opp, BYU
Sept. 10 -- Rachel Lau, Sr., MB, Wyoming
Sept. 17 -- No selection
Sept. 24 -- Angela Knopf, Sr., MB, Colorado State
Oct. 1 -- Sunny Mahe, Jr., RS/Opp, BYU