IRVINE, Calif. – Off to a sizzling 10-2 start to the season, the Concordia University Irvine women's volleyball team earned its first national Top 25 ranking since 2017 on Monday.
CUI is ranked No. 25 in the new
AVCA DII National Poll after receiving votes each of the past three weeks. The last time CUI women's volleyball was ranked was nine years ago during the first two weeks of that 2017 season.
The Golden Eagles also collected PacWest Team of the Week honors on Monday. Senior outside hitter
Kayden Croy was rewarded as the new PacWest Player of the Week.
Concordia went 3-0 and swept all three visiting Hawaii schools over a four-day span last week. The Golden Eagles improved to 4-0 in league play and have earned sweeps in nine of their 10 wins this season.
Concordia head coach
Eryn Leja-Martin also
earned career win No. 250 on Saturday in the victory over Chaminade. That number includes her time leading the programs at Vanguard and St. Katherine, and she is now in her third season alongside her sister and assistant coach
Alex Leja here at CUI.
Croy led Concordia in kills in all three victories this past week. The Riverside Poly High School alum hit a whopping .441 with 32 total kills over the course of those three matches and averaged 3.56 kills/set while also wreaking havoc at the net on defense. The senior outside hitter had a hand in 14 blocks during CUI's three home sweeps of the Hawaii schools. Six of those blocks came in
Wednesday's win over Hawaii Hilo.
Croy enters this week ranked in the Top 8 in the PacWest in both kills per set (6th) and hitting percentage (8th). She racked up a dozen kills against Hawaii Hilo and Chaminade, with those wins sandwiched around
Friday's 3-0 sweep of Hawaii Pacific.
The Golden Eagles dominated the Sharks, with Croy and
Emma Wegleitner each leading the squad with eight kills apiece. CUI won the second stanza 25-7 and cruised from there.
Concordia hits the road this week to battle Jessup and Dominican up in Northern California. The road trip begins on Friday at 5 p.m. against the Warriors before Saturday's matinee at 2 p.m. with the Penguins.
CLICK HERE for the full CUI women's volleyball schedule
