Moon Township, Pa. – Maria Alfano, a senior middle blocker on the Robert Morris University volleyball team, was named one of two Nike/Horizon League Players of the Week, as announced by the league Thursday afternoon.
Alfano is the first RMU player to receive a Horizon League weekly award this season, and garners the second weekly honor of her career. She was previously named Molten/Northeast Conference (NEC) Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 3, 2019 following the Colonials' season-opening home tournament.
RELEASE: Nike #HLVB Players of the Week (March 18)
The Cranberry Township, Pa. product has played well as of late, and showed both her offensive and defensive prowess in RMU's two-match sweep of IUPUI earlier in the week. Alfano posted per-set averages of 3.42 kills, 1.29 blocks, and 4.29 points in the two wins, and hit at a .383 clip over 47 swings. She recorded a season-high eight blocks (two solo) on Monday, adding 11 kills on a .318 hitting percentage in a four-set victory. Tuesday on her Senior Night, Alfano tallied a season-best 13 kills at a .440 conversion rate, coupling that with a solo block for a 14.0-point performance.
Alfano has enjoyed a solid senior campaign in RMU's first season as a Horizon League member. She enters the final week of regular-season action ranking sixth in the league in hitting percentage (.292) and blocks per set (0.98), and has recorded double-digit points in four straight matches and six overall. The fourth-year middle blocker has four outings of double-figure kills, four games of five or more blocks, and converted at a .300 or better rate five times.
The Seneca Valley alumna has etched her name all through the RMU career record books, and this past Monday became the ninth player in program history to register 300 total blocks. Alfano sits sixth in career hitting percentage (.304) and block assists (265), and eighth in total blocks (301). She could move into the top five in block assists in the Colonials' regular-season finale next week, needing five to match Janette Schneider (270; 2003-06) in that category. In 2019, Alfano posted the seventh-best hitting percentage (.365) and eighth-most block assists (94) in RMU single-season history, and earned All-NEC First Team honors.
RMU completes the spring season on Monday, March 22 when it hosts Northern Kentucky for a doubleheader. The first match is currently scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start, with the second match featuring an approximate 6:00 p.m. opening serve. Both matches can be seen on ESPN3.
Follow The Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Gameday App
