[Update]  George Washington University freshman Candace Silva-Martin ’09 has been named Atlantic 10 Conference Defensive Player of the Week, marking the second straight A-10 weekly award for Silva-Martin who garnered co-Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors Sept. 14 (see below). Silva-Martin earned the new honor after she totalled 65 digs for the week; averaging 5.91 digs per set including a match-high 35 digs in GW’s 3-2 victory over host Towson to capture the Towson Invitational title Saturday.  She leads the A-10 in digs with 250 for a 5.43 digs-per-set average. Silva-Martin’s stats for the week: three matches, 11 sets, 65 digs (5.91 digs per set), two kills in two attempts for a 1.000 hitting percentage, three assists and four service aces for six points.  

Sept. 14, 2009
Candace Silva-Martin ’09, a member of the Harker championship volleyball team of 2007, now a freshman at George Washington University, was named both Atlantic 10 Rookie and Co-Defensive Player of the Week by the league.

Silva-Martin, the team’s only listed libero, earned the honors after amassing 78 digs helping lead GW to a 2-1 record in the Villanova Classic, where she faced her former teammate, Kristina Bither ’09, on the Villanova team – Villanova won the GW-Villanova match at that event.

Silva-Martin has been named to consecutive all-tournament teams in each of the last two weeks following the Diet Coke Classic at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 4-5, and following last weekend’s Villanova Classic.

In the Colonials’ 3-2 victory over Princeton at Villanova, Silva-Martin recorded her career-high 34 digs – she has double-figure digs in all nine matches of 2009. Her stats for the week: three matches, 13 sets, 78 digs (6 digs per set), five assists and three service aces for three points.