WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Kate Borsato, a Whitman College senior from White Rock, British Columbia, has been named Northwest Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the second time this season.
Borsato, a 5-foot-8 setter, sparked Whitman to a pair of big NWC victories last week, averaging 11.50 assists per game.
The Missionaries rallied from a 2-0 deficit on Friday to defeat Pacific Lutheran in five games, handing the Lutes their first Northwest Conference loss of the season. With Whitman leading 13-10 in the deciding fifth game, Borsato made a solo block at the net that all but sealed the victory. She also contributed 11 digs.
On Saturday, Whitman swept Puget Sound in three games as Borsato averaged 15 assists per game while directing the Missionaries to a .351 team hitting percentage. She chipped in with five kills of her own in just six attempts, good for a .667 hitting percentage.
In statistics for NWC matches only, Borsato is averaging 11.61 assists per game in a total of 51 games, which is the second-best average in the conference. Her average is lower that it might be, in that she played in two NWC games at a position other than setter. Removing those two games, Borsato is averaging 12.08 assists in 49 conference games.
A four-year starter, Borsato will finish her Missionary playing days as Whitman’s career leader in assists.
Borsato picked up her first NWC Player of the Week award this season in late September after averaging 14 assists per game in two three-game Whitman victories (click here for that news release). The Missionaries hit a combined .331 in those two wins.
Borsato, a graduate of Semiahmoo High School in Surrey, B.C., is one of two Missionaries to earn the NWC weekly honor this volleyball season. Rosa Brey, a sophomore middle blocker from Bozeman, Mont., was honored two weeks ago after powering Whitman to two victories with 36 kills (.438 hitting percentage), 20 digs and nine blocks.
With last weekend’s two victories, the Missionaries have a split of the season home-and-away series with each of the three teams ahead of them in the NWC standings. Whitman also beat Pacific Lutheran in an early season tournament that does not count in the conference standings.
Despite losing five-game decisions in four NWC matches earlier in the season, Whitman takes an 8-6 conference record into this week’s final matches. The Missionaries host Whitworth at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Sherwood Center and then play their season finale at Pacific on Friday.
Pacific Lutheran is in first place in the NWC with a 12-1 conference mark. Linfield is second at 11-2, followed by Puget Sound at 9-5.