Nov. 5, 2012

BIG EAST Weekly Release (PDF) 

MILWAUKEE – Redshirt senior Holly Mertens of the Marquette University women’s volleyball team earned BIG EAST Conference Player of the Week honors for the second time this season, the league announced Monday, Nov. 5.

Mertens helped the Golden Eagles (23-4, 12-1 BIG EAST) to a pair of conference wins over UConn and St. John’s this weekend and a sweep of Milwaukee on Tuesday evening. The Stanley, Wis., native hit a combined .543 in the three contests with averages of 4.64 kills and 1.18 blocks per set.

She landed team highs of 18 kills against Connecticut Friday evening and 21 kills against the Red Storm on Sunday afternoon, while hitting .614 (39-4-57) in the two league matches.

It is the second week in a row that a Golden Eagle has earned conference player of the week honors as classmate Danielle Carlson earned the award last week. Mertens previously earned the distinction on Oct. 1 after MU defeated Notre Dame and DePaul on the road.

The Golden Eagles return to action Friday, Nov. 9 at No. 12 Louisville before heading home to face Notre Dame on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. Marquette has won 16 of its last 17 matches with the lone loss during that stretch coming against the Cardinals on Oct. 21 at the Al McGuire Center.

Marquette seniors Mertens, Carlson (Marshfield, Wis.), Carol Henney (Burlington, Wis.) and Kelsey Mattai (Lake Elmo, Minn.) will all be honored in a post-match Senior Day ceremony Sunday against the Irish.