CHICAGO (Nov. 13, 2023) – For the second time this season, UIC senior middle blocker
Zahria Woodard (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park and River Forest) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Monday. Woodard also earned the award on Sept. 18 after the Flames recorded road wins at Northwestern and Loyola.
Last weekend, Woodard tallied 15 kills and 15 blocks in UIC's conference matches against UNI and Drake, including a double-double (10 kills and 10 blocks) in Saturday's four-set victory over Drake on Senior Night, helping the Flames secure a regular-season sweep of the Bulldogs.
"I am honored to be recognized as the MVC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season," Woodard said. "I know it was a big match coming into Senior Night to face off against Drake, considering where we were in The Valley (standings). I wouldn't have been able to earn this (award) without my teammates."
"I'm very excited for Zahria earning her second weekly honor," head coach
Justin Ingram said. "There are a few things that contribute to that. One of them is aggressive serving (and) getting opponents out of system — it makes it easier for Zahria to see where that ball is going to end up. Moving forward, the same expectation for Zahria is for her to excel within the block and add to it with her offensive abilities."
For the season, Woodard ranks second in the MVC with 1.42 blocks per set and she leads the nation with 160 total blocks.
The Flames will close out the regular season at 6 p.m. (CT) Wednesday, playing host to MVC rival Valparaiso (19-11, 10-7 MVC) at Credit Union 1 Arena. Depending on the results of the match and other contests around the conference on Wednesday, UIC could be seeded as high as No. 3 and as low as No. 6 for the 2023 MVC Volleyball Championship that will take place Nov. 19-22 in Springfield, Mo.
Wednesday's match against the Beacons will be streamed on ESPN+ with Scott Sudikoff on the call. Live stats for the match will be available at
UICFlames.com.
For more information, fans are encouraged to visit
UICFlames.com, or follow the Flames on social media through X (
@UIC_Volleyball and
@UICFlames) and Instagram (
@uic_volleyball and
@uicflames).
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