http://www.miac-online.org/news/2011/10/31/WVBALL_1031115131.aspx

MIAC Volleyball Hitter-of-the-Week

Ariel Carlson, St. Olaf
Alexandria, Minn. / Jefferson

Often times in sports, it's said: "It's now how you start, it's how you finish." That's certainly the case with the 2011 St. Olaf volleyball team, which had an up-and-down year but finished strong with three-straight wins to end the regular season last week. Leading the way in late-season surge was junior middle blocker Ariel Carlson, who racked up 31 kills, 11 blocks, 10 digs and a .315 hitting percentage over the three victories. For her performance, Carlson has been named the MIAC Volleyball Hitter-of-the-Week.

Carlson's big week started with a huge match Tuesday against Northwestern in nonconference play. She accumulated 14 kills, six digs and six blocks with a .345 hitting percentage while leading the Oles to a 3-1 win. That set the stage for St. Olaf to win its final two MIAC matches of the season - Wednesday against Macalester and Saturday against Carleton - both in straight sets. Carlson contributed with eight kills, four blocks, two digs and a .316 percentage against the Scots and nine kills, two digs, a block and a .280 hitting percentage against the Knights. Carlson finished the season with 271 kills, 88 total blocks and 73 digs, and her .279 hitting percentage ranked 10th in the MIAC.

The three wins almost got St. Olaf back to .500 to finish the 2011 season. the Oles ended the year 13-14 overall and 4-7 in the MIAC. St. Olaf shared seventh place in the conference standings, which was just one spot out of the six-team playoff field.

MIAC Volleyball Setter/Libero-of-the-Week

Malea Noennig, Gustavus
Norwood Young America, Minn. / Mayer Lutheran

The Gustavus volleyball team was one of the biggest surprise stories in the MIAC in 2011, and they finished their successful regular season strong last week with a pair of conference wins that boosted them in to the No. 5 seed for the 2011 MIAC Volleyball Playoffs. Leading the way in both wins was setter Malea Noennig (Norwood Young America, Minn./Mayer Lutheran), who handed out 86 set assists and added 13 digs, six kills, three blocks and an ace in the pair of victories. For her performance over the final week of the season, Noennig has been named the MIAC Volleyball Setter/Libero-of-the-Week.

Noennig helped the Gusties get off to a good start last week in a 3-0 sweep of St. Catherine on Wednesday night. In the win, Noennig had 38 assists, six digs, four kills with an .800 hitting percentage and two block assists. She followed that performance up Saturday with 48 assists, seven digs, two kills, one block and one ace. Thanks to the two wins, Gustavus clinched its playoff spot, and moved up to No. 5 thanks to its tiebreaker over Augsburg. Noennig has been at the heart of Gustavus' success all season with 888 assists. her 9.35 assists per set ranks sixth in the conference in overall matches, and she's even better in conference play, ranking fourth. Also, she ranks sixth in the MIAC in service aces per set with a total of 39 in 2011.

The two final-week wins helped the Gusties improve to 20-9 overall and 7-4 in conference play to tie for fifth place in the final conference standings. Gustavus - which finished 7-19 and 1-10 in the MIAC a year ago - opens postseason play Tuesday with a quarterfinal match in the 2011 MIAC Volleyball Playoffs. The Gusties will travel to St. Joseph, Minn., to face fourth-seeded Saint Benedict, with the winner advancing to Thursday's semifinal match at No. 2 St. Thomas.

Courtesy of MIAC