Colorado Springs, Colo.—San José State volleyball players Thaliana Grajeda and Luiza Andrade have been honored as the Mountain West Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for matches through November 18.
Grajeda, a junior middle blocker from Clovis, earned the honor for the first time in her career. Last week, she helped the lead the Spartans to a pair of victories over Fresno State and San Diego State by hitting .413 and averaged 3.44 points per set. Grajeda hit .455 in the 3-1 win at Fresno State with 11 kills on 22 attempts and only one error. She then hit .375 in the win at San Diego State with 12 kills and added two service aces. She also had eight blocks and five digs in the two matches.
Andrade earned her second consecutive honor and fifth of her career. The senior from Rio de Janeiro averaged 6.00 digs, 1.56 assists and 0.11 aces per set last week. She was also perfect in serve receive, returning all 35 serves she faced. Andrade recorded a season-high 33 digs in the win at Fresno State, tied for the second-highest dig total by a MW player this season. She recorded 30 or more digs in match for the second time this year and fourth time in her career. Andrade added 21 digs in the 3-2 win at San Diego State and added six assists and an ace.
With 54 digs for the week, Andrade moved into eighth on the MW career digs list with 1,653, and will finish second all-time at San José State in digs. She also finished the year with 49 service aces, tying for the eighth-most in school history. Andrade ends her career with 122 aces and will finish in the top-10 in MW history.
San José State finished the 2018 season with a 16-11 overall record and 11-7 in the MW. The team finished fourth in the standings, the best finish and most MW wins since joining the conference in 2013. The fourth-place finish is the best since the 2006 team finished tied for fourth in the Western Athletic Conference standings. The Spartans had not recorded double-digit conference wins since the 2000 team finished 13-3 in the WAC.
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