NEW ORLEANS —
Xavier University of Louisiana women's
volleyball increased to six its total of 2023 Red River Athletic Conference weekly player awards
when
Ruxandra Flueras and
Kennedy Wade were honored Monday.
Flueras won RRAC Defender of the Week, and Wade received
Attacker of the Week for Sept. 4-10. Flueras won for the second consecutive week.
Flueras, a junior libero from Chieri, Italy, and a transfer from
Colby (Kan.) Community College, had a series-high 33 digs in the Gold Nuggets' two-match RRAC home sweep
of Paul Quinn. Saturday she accomplished something that former Gold Nugget
Linda Mungai —
the 2022 RRAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year — never accomplished last season: reach 20 digs in a three-set match. Flueras had 21.
Flueras' two-match
totals included eight assists and 5.50 digs per set.
Wade, a senior outside hitter from Gainesville, Fla, and a graduate
of Buchholz High School, was the leading scorer in both matches against Paul Quinn.
Wade's two-match totals included 26 kills, a .293 hitting percentage, two aces, two blocks and 12 digs.
Wade has won 11 conference weekly awards in her four XULA seasons.
XULA has won all three RRAC weekly defensive awards this season.
Taylor Parker won the first.
Next for XULA will be a two-match RRAC series in Pineville, La.,
against Louisiana Christian: 7 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. The Gold Nuggets, LCU, Our Lady of the Lake
and Texas A&M-Texarkana share first place in the conference with 2-0 records. The Gold Nuggets are 5-4 overall.
The next XULA home match will be Sept. 21.
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
Photo of Kennedy
Wade by Yamlak Tsega