LANCASTER, PA – Johns Hopkins volleyball's Jilienne Widener has been named the Centennial Conference's Defensive Player of the Week, as released by the conference this morning. The graduate student receives her first recognition of the season in the final week of awards with the CC tournament set to begin this Wednesday.
 
Widener put together one of her strongest defensive showings of the season to lift the Blue Jays to a 3-1 win over Dickinson to start the week, registering five blocks (one solo, four assists) and a season-high eight digs to top the Red Devils on the road. The graduate student then did it all for Hopkins in a sweep of F&M that secured the Blue Jays the top seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament, totaling five more blocks and two digs to pair with 13 kills while hitting .450 on the attacking side, bringing her weekly averages to 2.86 kills per set, 1.43 blocks per set and 1.43 digs per set.
 
On the season Widener now ranks third in the Centennial Conference in blocks per set at 1.03 — the most by a non-middle by a wide margin —having registered at least four blocks in five of her last six matches. Widener also ranks among the top 10 in the conference in hitting percentage (.336) and points per set (3.28), sitting in sixth and ninth respectively.
 
Having clinched the top seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament, Hopkins' opponent for the semifinal matchup Friday, Nov. 15 has yet to be determined.