After earning MVP honors at the WKU Tournament last weekend, junior outside hitter Jordyn Skinner earned a much more prestigious award on Monday — National Player of the Week, voted on by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Skinner recorded 70 kills during WKU’s three matches last weekend, currently leads the Sun Belt Conference in kills, and is eighth in the conference in digs. She recorded 30 of those kills against Xavier on Friday — second most in a match in school history.

Skinner said that the award is nice but that much of the credit goes to the rest of the team.

“It’s a good feeling, but a lot of it is because of my teammates,” she said. “Everybody was doing their jobs to kind of help me out.”

Skinner is the second Lady Topper to earn the award in program history. Former middle hitter Amanda Schiff received the honor in November of 2003.

The honor is the third Player of the Week award given to a member of the Lady Toppers so far this season. Senior middle hitter Tiffany Elmore earned Sun Belt co-Player of the Week and sophomore Ashley Potts was named Defensive Player of the Week last week.

Head Coach Travis Hudson, who picked Skinner as the preseason conference Player of the Year, said much of Skinner’s improvement has come from her rising confidence.

“She’s a special kid from a talent standpoint, and with Jordyn it’s just been a journey in getting her to believe that herself,” he said.

Skinner’s league-leading play has helped the Lady Toppers get off to a 10-1 start in their nonconference schedule, including a sweep of Tennessee State at home on Tuesday. She had 12 kills in that match.

“We just want to keep working hard, keep doing our part to keep winning,” she said. “We’ve started really good and consistent and we’re trying to keep at that.”