The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) has announced its Athletes of the Week selections in the sports of men's volleyball, baseball, and tennis and women's softball and lacrosse for the period running from March 11-17, 2024.
Women's Lacrosse (Offensive): Wells M Lydia Thomas was an offensive dynamo this week for an Express team that picked up two more victories and sustained their undefeated start to the season. In those two matchups, Thomas scored nine goals and tallied one assist, picking up 10 points in the two wins. She was also the definition of consistency and efficiency, as she scored five & four goals in the two games and also had a shot percentage of 83.3 in the first game against Purchase. She picked up eight ground balls, creating more opportunities to score for an Express squad that racked up 30 goals in the last two matchups.
Women's Lacrosse (Defensive): Wells M Mariah Stephens had an excellent week during which the Express secured two more victories and improved to 5-0 on the season. She directly contributed to these victories by wreaking havoc on opposing offenses, causing four turnovers during the week. She also made sure to get the Express lots of valuable possessions by scooping up 11 ground balls. In addition to her spectacular defense, she also tallied a goal for Wells in their victory over Purchase.
Baseball (Player): Wells INF Max Odum had a stellar week for the Express during their spring break gauntlet down in Myrtle Beach. He was the driving force behind a Wells offense that had double-digit run totals in three out of their six games over the past week. Odum stayed hot all week, logging multi-hit games in four out of the six matchups from this past week. He totaled 10 hits, good enough for a .400 average on the week, with five of those being extra-base knocks. He also contributed a massive amount of scoring output, slugging 11 RBI and scoring 10 runs, good enough for 21 run-contributions during just six games played.
Baseball (Pitcher): Mount Aloysius SO Tanner Abrams had a productive week out of the bullpen for the Mounties. He pitched five-plus innings in both appearances, allowing just one total earned run. He earned a victory against Dean, where he stabilized the Mounties providing 5.2 innings of three-hit baseball, while striking out four batters. It was the first victory of his career, while beginning to establish himself as a major piece of the Mountie 'pen.
Softball (Player): Pitt-Bradford C/DP Sarah Stroup hit .600 with 10 runs scored and seven RBI as Pitt-Bradford went 6-2 to finish the week in Fort Myers. She registered six multi-hit games and had three hits in a game twice. In the 4-2 win over Emerson, Stroup was 3-for-4, with a double, while also being a part of all four Panther runs, scoring two and driving in two.
Softball (Pitcher): Pitt-Bradford SO Krislyn Clement was 3-0 last week for the Panthers, logging a 1.38 ERA while striking out 24 batters. She had two complete game wins, a 10 strikeout, one earned run performance against Westfield State, and a three-hit two unearned run performance with seven strikeouts against Crown. Clement also did her part at the plate, hitting .435 with six runs scored, six RBI, and four extra-base hits.
Men's Volleyball (Defensive): PS-Altoona MB Connor Ebersole had an excellent week at the net for the Lions, racking up 14 total blocks in three matches. He recorded three block assists in Wednesday night's loss at AMCC opponent Geneva, two block assists and one solo block in Friday night's win at non-conference foe Houghton, and eight block assists in the Lions' 3-2 victory at Hilbert on Saturday. His eight block assists versus Hilbert tied for the second-most block assists in a match in team history. On the week, Ebersole recorded 14 total blocks, averaging 1.17 blocks per set.
Men's Volleyball (Offensive): Hiram MH/OH Kyle Martini led his team with 15 kills in a four-set win over Wittenberg on Tuesday before returning to the court with 12 kills in a four-set win at Wells on Saturday. Martini's .588 hitting percentage against the Express marked a new career-high for a single game, and his four service aces against Wells marked a new career-high for a single game. The junior leads his team in kills (212) for the entire season.
Men's Tennis: PS-Altoona FR Andrew Chronister was part of a dominant 9-0 win by Penn State Altoona over AMCC opponent Pitt-Greensburg on Sunday afternoon. In No. 1 doubles, he teamed up with Casey Hess to post an 8-1 decision over their opponents. In the No. 2 singles match, he blanked his opponent 6-0, 6-0.