OGDEN, Utah – For the second consecutive week and third time this season, senior Janae Vander Ploeg was the Big Sky's best, as she was named Big Sky Co-Player of the Week on Monday. She shares this week's award with North Dakota's McKenzie Hart. She becomes the third player in school history to receive three conference Player of the Week honors in the same season and is the second player – joining Jenny Treglown – to receive it four times in a career.

Vander Ploeg moved to within 14 kills of breaking NAU's all-time career mark this past weekend after tallying 39 kills in wins against North Dakota and Northern Colorado. She also recorded 20 digs, a block and an ace, helping the 'Jacks extend their best start to conference play to 9-1. For the weekend, she averaged 4.88 kills and 2.50 digs per set, hitting a combined .333.

Vander Ploeg started the week by hitting .531 – the second-best clip of her career – against North Dakota last Thursday in a straight set sweep. She notched at least five kills in every set and finished with a total of 18 on just 32 swings with only a single attack error.

The Colorado Springs, Colo. product then played a big role in helping NAU snap a six-match home skid to Northern Colorado on Saturday, notching her Big Sky-high tying 12th double-double of the season with 21 kills and 12 digs. Her two best sets against the defending conference champions came in the two crucial sets – the third and the fifth – in the five-set thriller. With the match tied at 1-1, Vander Ploeg converted on seven kills with only one error to put the Lumberjacks ahead 2-1. After the Bears won the fourth set, she connected on five kills – including the match's final point – to seal the victory.

Vander Ploeg raised her season hitting percentage to .275 and she now owns 1,469 kills, just 13 shy of Tami Burchard's school record of 1,482.

She remains the Big Sky's leader in kills per set at 4.67 for the season and 4.95 in conference play. She also leads all players with a season average of 5.31 points per set and conference only average of 5.54 per set. Nationally, she continues to rank in the top 10 in total kills, kills per set, points, points per set, attacks and attacks per set.

Vander Ploeg and the 'Jacks head out to Pocatello, Idaho for a critical Big Sky South Division match at Idaho State Thursday evening at 6 p.m. Arizona time. The Lumberjacks and Bengals are both tied atop the South Division – and the conference all together – at 9-1. NAU, now 19-4 overall, is carrying a school-record eight-match Big Sky win streak onto the road with a match at Weber State on Saturday as well.