KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Xiaoting Ma of Oklahoma City has been named the NAIA volleyball national player of the week, the national office announced Tuesday. Ma was selected based on her performances from Oct. 12-18. She was chosen out of a pool of conference player of the week selections among 23 conferences.
Already OCU's first volleyball all-American, Ma became OCU's first NAIA player of the week award winner in volleyball. Ma was a key component of the Stars' upsets of No. 4 Columbia (Mo.) and No. 22 Lindenwood (Mo.) over the weekend at the Lindenwood Classic in St. Charles, Mo.
The 6-foot junior outside hitter led Oklahoma City with 11 kills and five blocks, two solo and three assists, in a 3-0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-20) sweep of Lindenwood. She followed up with a 14 kill, 14 dig and two block performance against Columbia. Ma clinched the victory over the Cougars by slamming down the final point in the fifth set to give the Stars the 3-2 (18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 13-25, 16-14) win.
“She really stepped up her game this past week,” OCU coach Jen Gomez said of Ma's performance. “I was so very proud of our team and their play this week. We pushed the tempo, and I liked that. We showed up to play.”
In five matches over the week, Ma totaled 65 kills (.295), 48 digs, 12 blocks, five assists and a pair of aces. She logged double-figure kills in four matches (13, 14, 17, 18). Ma has 333 kills in her junior campaign to rank 40th nationally. Out of 28 matches, the Dalian, China, native has posted double-figure kills 19 times.
