Wood River High School graduate and former Hailey volleyball team captain Hannah Richards of Bellevue has been named the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) "Volleyball Player of the Week" for Sept. 7-13.
Richards, a 5-10 senior outside hitter for the Principia College (Elsah, Ill.) Panthers, came up with three "double-doubles" in four matches played last week. She is the 2009 team captain for Principia coach Mary Ann Sprague.
"Hannah is brilliant in the game and is able to help the team adjust on the fly," said coach Sprague.
Her best performance was a 20-kill, 15-dig effort that helped lead the Panthers to a four-set victory (24-26, 25-20, 27-25, 25-17) against host Rhodes College during the Rhodes Invitational tournament. She also had 19 kills, 10 digs and 2 aces in a loss to Millsaps College and 17 kills and 11 digs against Spring Hill.
Principia's top passer and digger last year, Richards leads the Panthers (4-4) this year with 118 kills in 29 games—a good 40% of the team's 293 kills and far ahead of her next-best teammate with 80. Richards, a third-year varsity player, is second on the 2009 team with 91 digs in NCAA Division 3 play.