Nov. 26, 2007

LAS VEGAS - The awards keep piling up for Lauren Miramotnes, as she has been named this week's Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week , while taking the same honor from CVU.com. In a week of firsts, Miramontes led the Rebel volleyball team to their first-ever Mountain West Conference (MWC) Championship last week, and an automatic bid into their first NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship. In addition to being the Sports Imports/AVCA's and CVU.com's weekly selection, she was tabbed the MWC's Player of the Week after taking home MVP honors in the conference tournament.

Against Wyoming in the quarterfinals, Miramontes planted 19 kills, hitting at a .341 clip, and added five digs and eight total blocks. In the semifinals against BYU, the Rebel senior landed a MWC Championship and school-record 34 kills and added seven total blocks and three digs. Miramontes then sent the Rebels to the dance with 30 kills on .397 hitting in a five-game thriller against Utah, adding nine more blocks and three digs. Her tournament averages for the week were 5.93 kills-per-game, hitting .337, with 1.71 blocks and 0.79 digs-per-game. Her 83 total kills for the event is also a tournament record. Miramontes is the first women's volleyball player from UNLV to win the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week award. UNLV is coached by Allison Keeley.

Miramontes is the second Mountain West Conference student-athlete to receive Sports Imporst/AVCA honors, as Colorado State's Mekana Barnes took home honors on Sept. 4. Additionally, she is the first MWC student-athlete since the 2005 season to garner national attention from CVU.com, as Lindsy Hartsock of BYU received recognition on Sept. 27, 2005.