STIDHAM CAPS INCREDIBLE WEEK WITH AVCA NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS 9/17/2007 SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento State senior outside hitter Missie Stidham received both the AVCA National and Big Sky Conference Volleyball Player of the Week awards after leading the Hornets to a 3-0 record and the tournament championship at last week’s USF Invitational in San Francisco. Stidham combined for 6.40 kills and 5.20 digs per game to go along with a .299 hitting percentage against 14th-ranked Cal Poly, San Francisco and Xavier. Those three opponents entered the tournament with a combined record of 20-10. The AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) national player of the week award is the first for a Sacramento State player since the program joined the Div. I ranks in 1991. In addition, she becomes the first player in the Big Sky Conference to earn the award since 1998 (Kim Exner of Eastern Washington). Players from all 325 Div. I volleyball schools are eligible for AVCA national player of the week honors. For her efforts, Stidham was also named the USF Invitational MVP, marking the second time in three weeks she has received tournament MVP honors (Bama Bash). The Fresno, Calif., native also won Big Sky Player of the Week accolades for the second time in three weeks as she also received the award on Sept. 3. Stidham led all players in kills in each of the three matches during the tournament, including 17 against San Francisco, 29 vs. Cal Poly, and 18 more against Xavier. She combined for 64 kills with just 17 errors in 157 total attacks. Both her kills and digs per game during the tournament were team highs.         In one of her more impressive performances of the season, Stidham led the Hornets to a 3-1 victory over Cal Poly on Saturday after tallying 29 kills and 27 digs. Seventeen of those kills came during the third and fourth games of the match.          In the Hornets’ three-game sweep of San Francisco on Friday, Stidham had 17 kills (without an error), 14 digs and a .459 hitting percentage (17-0-37). In the tournament clinching victory over Xavier, Stidham tallied 18 kills, 11 digs and a .289 hitting percentage (18-5-45).          Stidham, who transferred to Sacramento State prior to this season from Saint Mary’s, has been remarkable over her last five matches, combining for 5.53 kills and 4.82 digs per game to go along with a .310 hitting percentage. She has now led the Hornets in kills nine times this year, and digs in seven matches. Overall this season, she is averaging 4.66 kills, 4.51 digs and 0.55 aces per game with a .246 hitting percentage. The Hornets (11-3), who are currently receiving votes in the AVCA top 25 poll, open Big Sky play this week with home matches against both Northern Arizona (Friday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m.) and Northern Colorado (Saturday, Sept. 22, 7 p.m.).