SELINSGROVE, PA – Susquehanna University junior middle hitter Kerri Eshleman has been honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as the Sports Imports/AVCA Division III National Player of the Week for the week ending October 18.

Eshleman (Landisville, PA/Hempfield H.S.), who previously earned Commonwealth Conference Player of the Week honors for the fifth time in her career, is the first player in program history to earn national Player of the Week honors.

Eshleman broke the Susquehanna career kill record on Thursday then earned tournament MVP honors as the Crusaders defeated a pair of regionally-ranked teams to win the Marymount Invitational on Saturday.

She averaged 5.74 kills, 2.26 digs and 1.47 blocks in 19 games to help the Crusaders to four wins in five matches, while hitting a sizzling .460 on 202 attacks.

Eshleman opened the week with 24 kills and a .400 percentage in a 3-1 win over Widener, then recorded 14 kills to become the school career leader with 1,046 in a 3-0 loss to Lycoming on Thursday.

Eshleman was unstoppable at Marymount as she hammered out 71 kills and hit .496 to help the Crusaders knock off Washington & Lee (ranked third in the South Region), host Marymount, and Rutgers-Newark (eighth in the Mid-Atlantic). Eshleman also added 31 digs and 18 blocks in the tourney and barely missed her second triple-double of the season against Washington & Lee with a career-high 28 kills, nine digs and 10 blocks while hitting .531.

For the season, Eshleman ranks second in the Commonwealth Conference in both kills per game (4.05) and hitting percentage (.385) and leads the league in blocks per game with an average of 1.47.

The Crusaders (12-8 overall) host Albright on Wednesday at 7 p.m.