Listen Here
Journey Blevins Named Five Time Consecutive Player of the Week
By Ayden Adams
adamsa4@findlay.edu
University of Findlay sophomore Journey Blevins was named volleyball player of the week for five consecutive weeks in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in the North division.
Player of the week is based upon the last seven days of playing and stats from those matches played. Assistant Athletic Director of External Affairs, Kyle Niermann, is responsible for submitting player of the week nominations.
“Nominations for the award are due to the conference by Monday morning so part of my job every weekend after contests are over is to send in those nominations with all statistical information that supports why I think our player should be selected,” Niermann said. “Each and every week when I go and review the numbers from the previous seven days, her stats jump off the page and make her the obvious choice for our nomination.
Niermann said that Blevins was the first player from Findlay to receive this award in the G-MAC for five consecutive weeks breaking the past record by men’s swimmer, Janko Radmanovich, which was four consecutive weeks in 2017.
Blevins has already tabbed 457 kills this season with 211 of them being from conferences matches.
Last season, Blevins recorded 398 kills on the season and was named AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) Midwest Region and G-MAC Freshman of the Year, received an All-American honorable mention status, and tagged a few other accolades.
Kills are successful offensive attacks the player scored.
“I feel like playing at home helped a lot and also I feel like I got confidence from the weeks before and played better knowing I was player of the week before,” Blevins said.
Blevins game play and court IQ has improved from last season as described by assistant volleyball coach, Hannah Tong.
“I think the biggest difference between Journeys freshman season and this season is her ability to see the court,” Tong stated. “There have been times this season where she has hit a shot that I know freshman-year-Journey would have never tried. She has definitely added more tools in her toolbox this season.”
Other players on the team have also been awarded defensive player of the week in the G-MAC, including freshman Alana Pohlman, sophomore Ava Doster, and senior Emma Meyer.
“We have always been a dominant offensive program, so it’s very gratifying for our players being recognized for their defensive efforts. When we have an athlete receive player of the week, we congratulate our team for being ‘team of the week’,” Tong said. “You pretty much have to win all of your matches for the week to have an athlete receive player of the week and with the amount of times our players have been recognized each week just shows the success and hard work they have put into this season.”
The Oilers have competed well in the G-MAC and are 12-4 in conference play. With only a couple of matches left for the season, the Oilers are looking to be the North Division Volleyball Champions.
“With where we are right now and how we preform the next couple weeks, we have the opportunity to be the G-MAC North Divisions champs which would give us some confidence heading into the G-MAC tournament,” Tong said.
After conference play, the Oilers head into the G-MAC tournament quarterfinals on Tue. Nov. 8.
“Winning the conference tournament to make it to the regional tournament is our next goal,” Blevins said.
