RICHMOND — William & Mary junior Olivia Esposito was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday. She helped the Tribe to a pair of wins last week in the Tribe Invitational and shared the weekly honor with Charleston’s Tynley Smeltzer.
It marks the second time in her career that Esposito has won the CAA Defensive Player of the Week honor. For the week, Esposito recorded 29 blocks, averaging 1.53 per set over W&M’s four matches. She also added 24 kills, 1.26 per set, and hit .444.
Esposito was a key piece of W&M recording back-to-back matches of 18 blocks in wins over Quinnipiac and George Mason at the Tribe Invitational. The 18 blocks were the most for a Tribe team since 2009. For her efforts, Esposito was named to the Tribe Invitational All-Tournament Team.
The Carversville, Pa., native posted a career-high 10 blocks, including three solo, in Saturday’s win over Quinnipiac. She added seven kills and hit .700 vs. the Bobcats as well. Esposito opened the week by posting seven blocks against ODU, before totaling six against Bucknell and George Mason at the Tribe Invitational. She added a season-high eight kills against the Bison.
For the year, Esposito leads the CAA in total blocks with 36. She is also second in the league and 39th nationally in blocks per set at 1.38. As a team, the Tribe leads the CAA and ranks second in the country in total blocks with 74.
Esposito and the Tribe return to action at the Queens Fall Classic. W&M takes on the host Queens at noon on Friday before facing USC Upstate at 4:30 p.m. They wrap up the trip against Davison on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. All three matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.
