Colorado College's Counts Named AVCA D3 National Player of the Week

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sophomore setter Lizzy Counts of Colorado College was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division III National Player of the Week for matches played the week ending October 1.

Counts led Colorado College to four conference victories last week, including a sweep over No. 4 Trinity and a five-set thriller against No. 5 Southwestern. In Sunday's win over Southwestern, the Tigers overcame a 10-5 deficit in the fifth set when Counts set seven consecutive kills to give CC a 12-10 lead. She finished with single-match highs with 14 digs and four aces against Southwestern, and matched her previous best of seven kills. In the last match against Texas Lutheran, she dished out a season-high 52 assists. For the week, Counts hit .722 with 13 kills on 18 attacks without an error.

Currently, Counts ranks first in the SCAC averaging 10.1 assists per set, and leads CC with a .343 hitting percentage and an average of 0.40 aces per set. She also is fourth on the team in digs (2.24) and fifth in blocks per set (0.43).

"We're excited for Lizzy," head coach Rick Swan said. "She does a fantastic job running the offense and has a knack for making the right choice at the right time.

"Lizzy is very competitive and brings great leadership to the court."

The wins over Trinity and Southwestern marked the second time this season Colorado College defeated nationally-ranked opponents on the same weekend. The first was No. 18 Hope and No. 1 Calvin at the Elmhurst Invitational on Sept. 15 and 16, respectively. All four of Colorado College?s wins over top-25 teams have come at neutral sites. With Sunday's victory over Texas Lutheran, the Tigers extended their season-opening winning streak to 18 matches, the longest in school history.

Colorado remains undefeated on the season at 18-0 and is off to its best start in program history - besting the previous mark of 17 which was set in 2013.

Counts is the first SCAC student-athlete to earn AVCA Player of the Week recognition this season, but the award is the second of her career. She was named the AVCA Player of the Week on October 18, 2016. It is the 11th overall AVCA POTW award for a SCAC student-athlete.