Junior Rachel Jennings named OAC Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for third time this season

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — Ohio Northern junior Rachel Jennings (Novi, Mich.) was named Ohio Athletic Conference Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 25 to Oct. 1.

This marks Jennings' third OAC Player of the Week honor this season and seventh of her career.

The latest recognition comes after she tallied a combined 28 digs to help lead ONU to 3-0 sweeps over Ohio Wesleyan and Mount Union, two teams that sat just outside the top 25 of the AVCA Poll last week.

She had 16 digs against Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday and added 12 more against Mount Union on Saturday as Northern ended their respective win streaks of eight and 12 games. Her stat line also included a combined six aces and nine assists.

A two-time All-OAC Second Team selection, Jennings currently leads the OAC with 6.22 digs per set and ranks third in the conference with 373 digs on the season.

She has 1,364 career digs, which is just 103 shy of breaking into ONU's all-time top 10 in that category.

The 25th-ranked Polar Bears (11-4 overall, 1-0 OAC) return to action on Wednesday hosting OAC foe Otterbein at 7 p.m.