TU's Czerniak Dubbed National Attacker of the Week
KANSAS CITY – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced its volleyball national players of the week on Tuesday afternoon, and Taylor's Ryan Czerniak came home with the NAIA's National Attacker-of-the-Week award.
Czerniak's latest award marks the first national weekly honor of her career, and the first for Taylor volleyball since 2018 when Samantha Korn was named the NAIA National Defender of the Week. Furthermore, Czerniak is the first player in the coach Erin Luthy era to win a National Attacker-of-the-Week award.
The national award comes in recognition of yet another stellar weekly performance for the nation's leader in kills and hitting percentage. Throughout Taylor's 4-1 week, Czerniak totaled 74 kills at a clip of 4.11 kills-per-set, all the while maintaining a percentage of .466. Three weeks into the 2022 campaign, TU's senior right-side hitter sits atop the national leaderboard with 231 kills and a season-average hitting percentage of .456.
The Danville, Indiana, native was selected among a pool of 19 total candidates for the National Attacker-of-the-Week honor and now boasts a national award alongside a pair of Crossroads League weekly awards thus far into the 2022 season.
After winning three NAIA National Athlete-of-the-Week awards in 2021-2022, Czerniak's award marks the first for Taylor athletes in 2022-2023.
Czerniak and the No. 18 Taylor (12-3, 1-0 CL) volleyball team are back in action on Wednesday, September 14, when the Trojans travel to Spring Arbor (6-6, 0-1 CL) for a 7:00 pm matchup with the Cougars.