Lewis Athletics
Luke Rinner, Director of Athletic Communications
ROMEOVILLE – Lewis University redshirt-junior middle hitter Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS)was named the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Offensive Player of the Week and the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Player of the Week on Tuesday.
This is Mitchem’s second MIVA Offensive Player of the Week award this season and fifth of his career.
It’s also his second National Player of the Week honor in his career. He also won the award on February 19, 2019 after hitting .778 percent and averaging 3.5 kills per set in wins over Ball State and Purdue Fort Wayne. Mitchem is the fourth MIVA player to be selected for the award this season, with Purdue Fort Wayne’s Pelegrin Vargas taking it on January 21, McKendree’s Ryan Serrano won it on February 11 and Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) won the award on February 18.
Mitchem was dominant in both contests last weekend in helping Lewis to back-to-back straight set wins over Quincy and Lindenwood. He took 34 swings and terminated 25 of them without an error for a .735 hitting rate while averaging 4.17 kills per set. Mitchem recorded 15 kills against the Hawks and 10 against the Lions. His .714 hitting percentage was fourth highest in a match in school history for a player with at least 20 attempts.
“Tyler was a force for us this past week at the net,” Lewis head men’s volleyball coach Dan Friend said. “What was even more impressive is he was fresh off an ankle sprain on Monday. I’m proud of Tyler and our team.”
This is the 19th 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 remained fifth in this week’s NVA/AVCA Division I-II Top 15 poll. Lewis travels to Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday to take on the Mastodons at 6:30 p.m. CT and returns home on Saturday to host Loyola Chicago at 7 p.m.