Lewis Athletics
Luke Rinne, Director of Athletic Communications
ROMEOVILLE – Lewis University redshirt-senior outside hitter Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) was named the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Offensive Player of the Week and the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week on Tuesday (Feb. 18).
This is Coenen’s third MIVA Player of the Week honor this season and second Offensive Player of the Week award this season. It’s also his seventh career MIVA Player of the Week honor and fifth career Offensive Player of the Week award.
This is Coenen’s second National Player of the Week honor in his career. He also won the award on February 6, 2018 after hitting .621 with 20 kills in a win over USC. Coenen is the third MIVA player to be selected for the award this season, with Purdue Fort Wayne’s Pelegrin Vargas taking it on January 21 and McKendree’s Ryan Serrano won it on February 11.
Coenen averaged 5.00 kills per set and a .483 hitting percentage in Lewis’ road wins over No. 14 Ohio State and Ball State last weekend. Against the Buckeyes, he slammed down 15 kills and hit .542 in the Flyers 3-0 win. Coenen followed it up two days later with 20 kills while hitting .444 in a four-set win over the Cardinals.
“Ryan was awesome for us this past weekend,” Lewis head men’s volleyball coach Dan Friend said. “He continues to elevate his game and was a go to guy for us in two key road MIVA victories.
“It’s always a great team achievement as well when our guys get individual awards,” Friend stated.
This is the 18th time that a Lewis player has picked up Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week honors. They’ve had at least one player of the week in each year since 2012 with the exception of 2016.
The Flyers moved up to fifth in this week’s NVA/AVCA Division I-II Top 15 polls. Lewis plays three of its next four matches at home beginning Wednesday (Feb. 19) against Quincy at 7 p.m.