WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ââ'¬" Junior outside hitter Danielle Cuttino earns her first Big Ten Player of the Week honor after pacing the Boilermaker attack in a pair of wins over No. 9 Stanford and Cal Poly at the Stanford Invitational last weekend.
The Indianapolis native put down a team-leading 4.33 kills per set, while hitting at a .333 clip and adding 0.89 blocks per set. In the upset win over Stanford, the junior posted 18 kills, a season-best three digs and four blocks. Against Cal Poly, she managed a match-high 21 kills on a .447 hitting percentage, while adding four blocks. Cuttino recorded her 500th career kill against Cal Poly (513) and her 250th career block (252). She has posted double-digit kill tallies in all eight matches this season.
Cuttino was an All-Big Ten Freshman Team honoree in 2014 and went on to garner AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and first team All-Northeast Region accolades as a middle blocker in 2015. During the offseason, Cuttino transitioned from middle blocker to outside hitter.
Cuttino is the first Player of the Week honoree for Purdue since Annie Drews earned the last of her three season accolades on Nov. 16, 2015.
The Boilermakers (7-1) wrap up non-conference play this weekend, playing host to Southeastern Louisiana, No. 4 Kansas and Xavier at the inaugural Stacey Clark Classic. Matches begin at 10 a.m. Friday on Belin Court in Holloway Gymnasium.