NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Kennedy Wade and Ruxandra Flueras were named Monday as Red River Athletic Conference weekly award winners in women's volleyball.
        Wade won RRAC Attacker of the Week, and Flueras received Defender of the Week for Oct. 2-8. Flueras won for the fourth time this season, and Wade won for the second time.
        Wade — a 5-foot-9 senior outside hitter from Gainesville, Fla., and a graduate of Buchholz High School — had 29 kills and hit .393 in a two-match home sweep of Huston-Tillotson. Since the RRAC started this league scheduling format in 2022, Wade's 29 kills are the most in a two-match series by a XULA player.
        Other totals for Wade included two aces, one assist and 11 digs.
        Flueras, a junior libero from Chieri, Italy, and a transfer from Colby (Kan.) Community College, missed the previous two RRAC series because of injury. She returned Friday and averaged a series-best 5.83 digs per set. Flueras was part of a defense that limited Huston-Tillotson to a hitting percentage of .072.
        Five from XULA volleyball have won a collective 11 RRAC weekly awards this season. At least one XULA athlete was cited in each of the seven weeks.
        Next for XULA — 13-4 overall and the leader in the RRAC at 10-0 — will be a two-match RRAC series at Texas A&M-Texarkana in Texarkana, Texas: 6 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. TAMUT and Our Lady of the Lake are each 9-1 in the RRAC.

XULA women's volleyball 2023 Red River Athletic Conference Players of the Week
•  Aug. 21-27:  Bengisu Kazazlar, setter; Taylor Parker, defender
•  Aug. 28-Sept. 3:  Amani Mason, attacker; Ruxandra Flueras, defender
•  Sept. 4-10:  Kennedy Wade, attacker; Ruxandra Flueras, defender
•  Sept. 11-17:  Ruxandra Flueras, defender
•  Sept. 18-24:  Taylor Parker, attacker
•  Sept. 25-Oct. 1:  Bengisu Kazazlar, setter
•  Oct. 2-8:  Kennedy Wade, attacker; Ruxandra Flueras, defender



Photos of Kennedy Wade and Ruxandra Flueras by Yamlak Tsega