SLIAC Names Players of the Week for Sept. 16th
Posted: Sep 16, 2013

SLIAC Names Players of the Week for Sept. 16th

The Saint Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced the winners of the Player of the Week for September 16th. This week's outstanding performers include Deron Buehner, Julio De Leon, Ethan Jeffries, Kelsey Kaiser, LaTayisah Ousley, Tess Rountree, Savanna Sprague and Alyssa Tonner.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Ethan Jeffries (Webster University) Jeffries, senior, accomplished something few have done in program history for Webster; crossing the finish line first. Jeffries won the 6K Big River Cross Country Festival with a time of 18:58, running a pace of 5:06 per mile and finished 13 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. His time was also 41 seconds faster than his previous school record for 6,000 meters. This marks the second time this season Jeffries has taken home weekly honors.

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Alyssa Tonner (Fontbonne University) Tonner, a senior, competed in the SIUE Cross Country Challenge this past weekend, placing 14th on the tough hilly course. Tonner finished with a time of 19:31, setting a new personal best for 5K distance. Her 6:18 pace was just 30 seconds behind the first-place finisher.

 

 

MEN'S SOCCER - OFFENSIVE
Julio De Leon (Spalding University) De Leon, a sophomore forward, helped his team to a pair of wins this past week recording one goal and three assists. De Leon started the week with a three assist performance in his team's 4-0 win over Mount St. Joseph. He followed with the game winning goal in a 2-0 win over Wabash, scoring at the 37-minute mark. For the week De Leon recorded five points in three games.

 

MEN'S SOCCER -DEFENSIVE
Deron Buehner (Spalding University) Buehner, a junior defender, was instrumental in helping the Spalding men's soccer team go 2-1 on the week with a pair of shutouts. Buehner played every minute of all three games at centerback and helped limit opponents to just nine shots on goal for the week. He led a defense that held Mount St. Joseph without a shot on goal in a 4-0 win and followed with an impressive performance in which he took charge of a defense that played one man down for the majority of the second-half in a 2-0 win over Wabash.

WOMEN'S SOCCER- OFFENSIVE
LaTayisah Ousley (Westminster College) Ousley, a sophomore forward, was personally responsible for both of her team's goals in their only contest of the week. Playing on the road Ousley gave her team an early lead with a goal just 14-minutes into the contest. She added some breathing room, which would be needed, when she netted her second goal of the game at the 57-minute mark; propelling her team to a 2-1 victory over Knox.

 

WOMEN'S SOCCER - DEFENSIVE
Kelsey Kaiser (Spalding University) Kaiser, a freshman goal keeper, was nearly unbeatable this past week holding a 0.90 goals-against average and recording 17 saves and a 94-percent save percentage. Kaiser blanked Berea 1-0 on the road, making five saves in picking up her first shutout of the season. In that game she kept Berea out of the net with a key stop on a penalty kick at the 75-minute mark to preserve the shutout and win. Kaiser had a busy day in her next outing, stopping 12 of 13 shots in a 1-0 overtime loss to Hanover.

VOLLEYBALL - OFFENSIVE
Savanna Sprague (Principia College) Sprague, a junior setter, ran an efficient offense for Principia against a pair of conference opponents. Sprague assisted on 27 of her team's 36 kills against Webster and added five kills of her own. She stepped her game up even further in her second match with 35 assists in a sweep over Spalding, chipping in with three kills. For the week she finished with 62 assists, averaging 10.33 per set and added eight kills and two service aces.

 

VOLLEYBALL - DEFENSIVE
Tess Rountree (Principia College) Rountree, a junior outside hitter, was a force on the court this week helping her team in their transition from defense to offense. Rountree recorded 48 digs in just six sets this week, averaging 8.0 digs per set. She turned in a 30 digs performance in her team's sweep over Spalding and added 18 digs in a loss to Webster. Rountree also added two total blocks and five service aces.

 

SPECIAL MENTIONS

  • Logan Chiri, Sr., Iowa Wesleyan (Volleyball) Chiri, a libero, put together an impressive week for the Tigers as they entered conference play. Chiri finished with 55 digs in three matches, including a pair of 20+ dig performances. She was also 40 of 42 in serves with four aces on the week.
  • Lexi Collier, So., Westminster (Volleyball) Collier, a middle hitter, powered her team to a pair of wins last week on the court finishing with 33 kills in 12 sets. She was a force at the net, hitting .536 on the week, and recorded double digit kills in all three matches.
  • Corinne Coon, Sr., Greenville (Volleyball) Coon, a defensive specialist, had a solid all-around performance last week recording 27 kills and 14 digs with seven service aces. She average 3.0 kills per set while hitting .490 on the week with seven total blocks.
  • Dakota Flesner, So., Iowa Wesleyan (Volleyball) Flesner, an outside hitter, paced the Tiger offense this week with 39 kills in three matches including a pair of conference victories. Flesner added a 20 kills performance against MacMurray and finished the week averaging 3.9 kills per set while adding 43 digs.
  • Emily Osborne, Sr., Principia (Women's Cross Country) Osborne finished her 6K race with a time of 24:02 but more impressively cut off one-minute and 36 seconds off her time from last year on the same course. She held a pace of 6:48 per mile and helped her team to an 8th place finish.
  • Kynan Witters-Hicks, Sr., Principia (Men's Cross Country) Witters-Hicks finished the 8K race in 27:31 but took off 68-seconds from his time of last year. Witters-Hicks' kick at the end of the race helped his team grab a 5th place finish at the meet.