Houghtelling Named National Player of the Week

Lincoln - Nebraska volleyball player Christina Houghtelling picked up her second honor of the day Monday afternoon, as she was named the AVCA/Sports Imports National Player of the Week. 

Houghtelling joins an exclusive list of Huskers who have received this award, as only five other Huskers (Allison Weston, Kelly Aspegren, Amber Holmquist, Greichaly Cepero and Sarah Pavan) have ever been named national player of the week. It also marks the second straight selection of a Nebraska player, as Pavan earned the honor during the final week of the regular season last November.

Houghtelling averaged 4.83 kills on .404 hitting, with 2.33 digs and 1.67 blocks per game in helping top-ranked Nebraska to sweeps of No. 4 Hawaii and No. 3 Stanford. Houghtelling paced the Huskers in kills in both matches, while also tying career highs with five blocks in both matches en route to MVP honors.

Against Hawaii on Friday, Houghtelling tallied a match-high 14 kills, a .440 hitting percentage and seven digs to help snap the Rainbow Wahine's 59-match regular-season win streak.  The following evening, she totaled 15 kills, including nine in the first game. She helped NU knock off a defending national champion for the first time in program history, as NU topped a pair of top-five opponents for the first time since 2000.

Houghtelling and the rest of the No. 1 Huskers return to action at the Ohio State Tournament this weekend to face the Buckeyes at 6 p.m. on Friday and Michigan at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.