Sept. 22, 2009 - Over the past four seasons, the Hillsdale College volleyball team has established itself as one of the most successful Division II programs in the nation. But it never had one of its own players be named national player of the week. Until Tuesday.

Sophomore outside hitter Ashlee Crowder was named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division II National Player of the Week. On Monday, Crowder was named the GLIAC South Division Player of the Week for the second time this season.

Crowder led Hillsdale to a 3-0 week last week, with the Chargers winning all three matches by 3-0 sweeps. In those matches, Crowder piled up a total of 56 kills against just nine hitting errors. She had a .402 hitting percentage for the week, while averaging 6.2 kills per set.

Against Findlay on Sept. 15, Crowder had 17 kills to lead all players in the match. She improved upon that effort with 22 kills and only two errors in a 3-0 win over a Wayne State team that was 10-1 entering that match. It was the second 20-kill match of the season for Crowder. In Saturday's win over Northwood, Crowder delivered 17 more kills and added 10 digs to Hillsdale's winning effort.

Crowder currently leads the GLIAC with 4.57 kills per set, and ranks fifth in the nation in that category.

Hillsdale is off to a 12-1 start to the season, and entered the AVCA Division II Top 25 poll for the first time in a year this week, being ranked 25th in the latest poll. The Chargers are 5-0 in GLIAC play, the only team with a perfect conference record so far this season.

Crowder, who was the GLIAC Freshman of the Year in 2008, played her high school volleyball at Jenison, located just outside of Grand Rapids, Mich.