Alexis Crusey Earns Ivy League Player of the Week Honors
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Coming off of a Most
Valuable Player performance at the Yale Classic, senior outside
hitter Alexis Crusey of the Yale volleyball team has been
recognized by the Ivy League as its Player of the Week. Crusey, the
third Bulldog to merit Ancient Eight Player of the Week honors in
four weeks of competition, averaged 4.11 kills and 3.22 digs per
set in a trio of straight-set victories for Yale this past
weekend.
In the weekend-opening sweep of Central Connecticut State, Crusey
hit .355, tallying a match-best 13 kills on 31 swings, and fell
just shy of a double-double with nine digs. She also notched an
assist and a service ace in the contest. The next morning against
Quinnipiac, Crusey piled up 11 kills and 11 digs with three assists
and an ace. She also had a hand in three Yale blocks, including one
solo stuff. The three-time All-Ivy first team honoree wrapped up
the weekend with a match-high 13 kills against Binghamton, hitting
.407 (13-2-27) in the straight-set victory. Crusey once again
picked up nine digs in the contest with two assists, two blocks
(one solo) and a service ace.
One of the most prolific Bulldogs in terms of both kills (3.17 per
set) and digs (3.37 per set) in 2009, Crusey ranks sixth all-time
in Yale history with 1,128 career kills and recently eclipsed 1,000
digs for her career, sitting at ninth all-time with 1,038. She is
one of five Bulldogs to reach both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs, and
one of only four Yale players in the career top 10 in both
categories.
Crusey joins fellow seniors Cat Dailey and Laurel Johnson as 2009
recipients of the Ivy League Player of the Week distinction.
Junior libero Kelly Ozurovich, who joined Crusey on the Yale
Classic All-Tournament Team, was also tabbed by the Ivy League as a
member of the Weekly Honor Roll. Ozurovich, a member of the Weekly
Honor Roll for the second consecutive week, averaged 7.86 digs per
frame as the libero in a Bulldog defense that held opponents to a
.091 hitting percentage at the Yale Classic. In the straight-set
win over Central Connecticut State, the two-time All-Ivy selection
piled up 22 digs in three sets and landed a service ace on the
visiting Blue Devils. She was also perfect on 15 serve receptions.
Ozurovich played just one set against Quinnipiac on Saturday,
racking up 11 digs in the first frame of a Bulldogs’ sweep.
She concluded the weekend with another 22-dig performance in the
sweep of Binghamton. Ozurovich was once again perfect on serve
receptions, this time with seven errorless attempts.
Crusey, Ozurovich and the Bulldogs are back in action this Friday,
Oct. 2, as Ivy League play begins in New Haven with the defending
champions of the Ancient Eight hosting Brown. First serve from the
John J. Lee Amphitheater is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Ivy League
Weekly Release
report filed by Drew M. Kingsley, Yale Sports Publicity
