WEEK 5 CONFERENCE AWARDS
JERSEY CITY, NJ...Senior middle blocker A.J. WITKOFSKY (Scotia, NY) of Endicott College and freshman outside hitter MATT HOHENBERGER (St. Louis, MO) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been selected as the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Conference Player and Rookie of the Week for week five of the 2010 season.
Witkofsky has been selected as the NECVA Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season and the third time in his career as he earned Most Valuable Player accolades as the Gulls went 4-0 and won the Endicott Invitational against some of the best teams in the league. He averaged 6.39 points, 5.14 kills, 1.71 blocks and 1.64 digs per set while hitting .393. The 6-foot- 4 Witkofsky began his week with five kills (5-1-8, .500) and seven blocks, while seeing limited action in Endicott’s blanking of Hilbert. In his next match, a 3-1 win over Emmanuel, he smashed 25 kills and added 10 blocks, three digs and two aces. He hit .400 in the win. Witkofsky continued his hot play with 19 kills, seven digs, and two blocks in the Gulls’ sweep of then-No. 7 Rivier, hitting .410. He concluded the tournament with a double-double, totaling 23 kills, 13 digs and five blocks while hitting .354 in Endicott’s 3-2 win over MIT.
Witkofsky was also named Sports Imports/AVCA Men’s Volleyball Division III National Player of the Week.
Hohenberger claims NECVA Conference Rookie of the Week laurels after earned All-Tournament Team honors at the Endicott College Invitational. He averaged 5.22 points, 4.11 kills, 0.78 blocks and 0.61 aces per set while posting a .418 attack percentage. He opened the week with four kills in five swings (.800) and three blocks in two sets as MIT swept Lesley, then notched an enormous effort in a 3-0 sweep of Division I Harvard University, as the 6-foot-6 hitter attained a .722 percentage with 14 kills (14-1-18) and two blocks. He hit .667 (6-0-9) in two sets as MIT opened the Endicott Invite with a sweep of SUNYIT, following that with a 16-kill, five-ace showing in a sweep of Ramapo College. He hit .650 (16-3-20) against the Roadrunners. Hohenberger collected eight kills in a 3-0 loss to Rivier before hammering 26 kills (26-8-57, .316) with six blocks in a 3-2 loss to host Endicott.
The NECVA Conference Player and Rookie of the Week is selected by the league office each Tuesday throughout the season based on the five divisional winners in the two categories in the CUNYAC, GNAC, Metro, New England and Western Divisions. All 43 active members of the league are eligible for weekly honors.