Bittinger Earns Second MAC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week Award
11/16/2016 5:29:00โฏPM | Women's Volleyball
CLEVELAND, Ohio โ For the second time this year, Kent State junior outside hitter Kelsey Bittinger has been named Mid-American Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon. The announcement came just hours after Bittinger was named to the All-MAC First Team for the second consecutive year.
The MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honor is presented weekly to a MAC male and female student-athlete who has a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better and performs well during the week's competition. The winners are selected by a group of the conference's faculty athletic representatives. Bittinger has received the award twice each of the past two years, which is the maximum number of times a student-athlete is permitted in each season.
An applied physics major with a 3.976 cumulative GPA, Bittinger averaged a team-high 3.62 kills per set in addition to 4.25 digs per set to lead the Golden Flashes to a split of two four-setters on the final weekend of the regular season. She started the week with 12 kills and 16 digs in the Golden Flashes' home finale, a 3-1 setback to MAC East rival Ohio and then posted 17 kills to go with 18 digs as Kent State took down Eastern Michigan on the road Saturday.
The Strongsville, Ohio native continues to be one of the top six-rotation players in the conference this season, ranking second in kills per set (3.56) and third in fourth in points per set (4.01). Bittinger, who is second on the team with a career-best 3.14 digs per set average, needs seven digs to become the fifth player in program history
Kent State (15-14, 8-8 MAC) enters the 2016 Mid-American Conference Volleyball Championship as the No. 7 seed and opens the tournament against 6th-seeded Toledo on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at Northern Illinois' Victor E. Court. Single-match tickets start at $10 while all-session passes are $30. Call (815) 753-PACK (7225) to purchase or visit NIUHuskies.com.
