JACKSON - After completing their run to the Region 23 Championship, the #16 Northwest Mississippi Community College volleyball team earned a pair of Player of the Week honors from the MACCC to cap off a banner week for the program, with Jania Rose earning her second Defensive Player of the Week award and Sofia Gonzalez picking up the offensive award for the first time this season. 

Rose was the leader of the Rangers back line through the playoff run, and was the only player for Northwest to have double-digit digs in both the semi-final and the championship match. She finished the week with 31 and has 421 for the season and over 800 in her career. She became the all-time leader in digs earlier this season for the program. Rose was also stellar on the serve-receive side of things, making 29 receptions with just one error for a .966 percent rate. 

For Gonzalez, it was her strongest week at the net on the attack, hitting nearly .500 against top-quality competition on the way to 36 kills for the week. Those numbers included an incredible 18 kills against Jones College with only three errors. Maybe more incredible was her combined performances against Meridian and Pearl River, where the freshman from Lake Cormorant made zero errors while stacking up another 18 kills after both matches concluded. Gonzalez added another four aces to the tally and had two assists in what was a banner week. She is just five kills away from 400 for the season. 

Northwest is looking to keep the party going as they have at least one more match to play against #15 Lurleen B. Wallace Community College (33-2) on Sunday, November 8, at 2 p.m. The match will be at Howard Coliseum, and it is $10 to get in the door. The winner of that match will earn the Gulf South District title and will get an automatic bid to the NJCAA Division II National Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, beginning on November 18. 

Follow along with the Northwest volleyball team by visiting nwccrangers.com or by checking out Ranger social media accounts.