Avalanche Athlete of the Week: Hannah Zurakowski
The College of the Rockies women’s volleyball Athlete of the Week is 5th year Setter Hannah Zurakowski!
After a full travel day on Wednesday, Hannah and the Av’s faced off against the #2 team in the nation VIU Mariners on Thursday evening. Despite the 0-3 loss, the Avalanche battled hard and pushed VIU to the end of each set. Hannah quarterbacked strategically and gave her teammates lots of chances against a big VIU block. Hannah’s spin serve came alive and she picked up 3 aces on the night. She also had 1 kill, 16 assists, and 2 digs.
On Friday evening the Av’s played well again against VIU, eventually losing the tight game 1-3. Hannah kept her momentum rolling, contributing 1 ace, 2 kills, 21 assists, 1 block and 7 digs! Zurakowski was fantastic in her set distribution and created tons of holes in the VIU block for her attacker to exploit.
On Saturday the Av’s traveled down to Victoria to face off against the Camosun Chargers. After a sluggish start in the 1st set, the Avalanche took off to win the next 2 sets, then lost a heartbreaking 4th set, but rebounded to win the 5th set for their 3rd win of the season! Hannah was locked in all game long and seemed to find another level of creativity in her setting. She finished the game with 1 ace, 2 kills, 28 assists, 2 blocks, and 14 digs.
Sunday afternoon, Hannah and the Avalanche played their 4th game in as many days. The team dug deep and started off with a blowout 1st set win. Camosun really turned it on after that and took the next 2 sets, but the Avalanche came from behind in the 4th set to push the game to a 5th set that was eventually won by Camosun. Zurakowski played lights out. She found both physical and mental energy somewhere deep inside and finished the game with 1 kill, 1 ace, 1 block, 33 assists, and 17 digs!
Here is what head coach Bryan Fraser had to say about Hannah’s performance this past weekend:
“I’m super impressed with Hannah and how she’s able to elevate each one of her teammates to play at a higher level. She makes my job really easy with how she understands the flow of the game and what is needed in each situation. I haven’t questioned a single choice she’s made so far in 6 games and I have so much confidence in her. She’s been working hard on her spin serve and these 4 games really showed that. 86% of her serves are in, and she’s generating points either through direct aces (6), overpasses, or freeballs from the other side. It’s fun to watch her working so hard on getting better at her craft in her last year of eligibility”!
