NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Bengisu Kazazlar and Ruxandra Flueras were named Monday as Red River Athletic Conference weekly award winners in women's volleyball.
        Kazazlar won RRAC Setter of the Week, and Flueras received Defender of the Week for Sept. 23-29. Flueras won for the second time this season and the seventh time in her career. Kazazlar won for the first time this season and the third time in her career.
        Kazazlar, a 5-foot-9 sophomore from Izmir, Turkey, produced her best week of the season in a two-match road sweep of Southwest (N.M.): 11.43 assists per set, eight kills, 15 digs, one block and a team-high four aces.
        Flueras, a 5-4 fifth-year libero from Chieri, Italy, and a transfer from Colby (Kan.) Community College, averaged 7.14 digs per set. In the series finale against Southwest, Flueras had 26 digs, which tied her season high, in three sets.
        Three from XULA volleyball have won a collective four RRAC weekly awards this season.
        Next for XULA — 5-11 overall and tied for fourth place in the RRAC at 2-2 — will be a two-match home series at the Convocation Center against RRAC leader Louisiana Christian: 6 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday. Friday will be a Dig Pink match — to continue awareness of metastatic breast cancer — and the first 50 fans will receive a free tie-dye T-shirt. Friday fans are encouraged to wear pink.

XULA women's volleyball 2024 Red River Athletic Conference Players of the Week
•  Aug. 19-25:  Sydney Murray, attacker
•  Sept. 2-8:  Ruxandra Flueras, defender
•  Sept. 23-29:  Bengisu Kazazlar, setter; Ruxandra Flueras, defender



Photos of Bengisu Kazazlar and Ruxandra Flueras by Yamlak Tsega