Nov. 19, 2002

Judd Lienhard and Shelby Ortwerth Named Wilson/MIAA Players of the Week

In the final week of the regular season for fall sport teams, two Truman athletes earned player of the week honors. Football player Judd Lienhard was the Wilson/MIAA defensive player of the week. Volleyball player Shelby Ortwerth was the Wilson/MIAA Hitter of the week.

Lienhard, a senior playing in his final game, recorded 18 tackles helping Truman defeat Missouri Western by a 27-23 score. He had nine solo stops and nine assists. Three of this tackles were for losses totalling four yards and he added a pass breakup. He is currently fourth in the MIAA in tackles with 8.9 a game and is tied for second in tackles for loss with 1.55 per game.

Ortwerth, also a senior, averaged 4.00 kills, 2.44 digs, 1.89 assists and 1.00 blocks while hitting .477 as the Bulldogs swept three conference opponents last week. In a win over nationally-ranked Central Missouri, she hit .333 with nine kills and six digs in the 3-0 Truman win. At home against Northwest Missouri, she had career-highs with eight assists and six blocks and added 10 kills and a .444 hitting percentage. On Senior Day against Southwest Baptist, she had one of her best performance with 17 kills and just one error in 26 attempts (.615 hitting percentage). She also added nine digs and six assists in that win.