MIDWAY, Ky. -- The River States Conference office announced on Monday, September 28, that Mariana Rodriguez of the Midway University women's volleyball team had been named the RSC Women's Volleyball Defender of the Week for the week of Sept. 21-27.

The weekly honor is the first of the season for Rodriguez, while is also is the first of her career. She becomes the second Midway women's volleyball player to earn a weekly honor this season joining Alysha Tullar who earned Attacker of the Week honors last week.

Rodriguez put together a great week as she helped lead the Eagles to a perfect 3-0 mark which included two conference wins over Brescia (Ky.) and IU Southeast (Ind.). She finished the week with 44 digs averaging 3.67 digs per set, while she committed just one service error in 42 attempts and one reception error in 61 chances.

She recorded nine digs, three assists and two aces in a 3-0 win over Welch (Tenn.) to open the week but followed that up with big performances against Brescia and IU Southeast.

In Midway's 3-1 win over Brescia – their first win over the Bearcats since 2014 – she carded 15 digs and three assists. Then in a thrilling 3-2 win over the Grenadiers – Midway's first-ever win over IUS – Rodriguez posted a match-high 20 digs to go with her six assists.

Following last week's performances, the junior from Houston, Texas has collected 64 total digs and is averaging 3.56 digs per set. She ranks third in the RSC in digs with 64, tied for seventh in service aces (18) and tied for 12th in digs per set.

Following the perfect 3-0 week, the Eagles improved to 4-1 on the season as they return to action on Tuesday (Sept. 29) when they travel to nearby Wilmore to take on Asbury (Ky.).

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