Rhodes named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after stunning performance against Ole Miss

Avery+Rhodes%2C+middle+blocker%2C+goes+to+hit+the+ball+towards+Ole+Miss+during+the+Aug.+24%2C+2018+game+in+Hilton%C2%A0Coliseum.+Rhodes+was+named+the+Big+12s+Defensive+Player+of+the+Week+after+a+double-digit+block+performance+against+Ole+Miss+on+Saturday.

Gillian Holte/Iowa State Daily

Avery Rhodes, middle blocker, goes to hit the ball towards Ole Miss during the Aug. 24, 2018 game in Hilton Coliseum. Rhodes was named the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Week after a double-digit block performance against Ole Miss on Saturday.

Jack Shover

Iowa State’s Avery Rhodes was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after her stunning performance in volleyball’s opening week.

Rhodes, a redshirt sophomore, has been off to a hot start defensively after suffering a season ending injury in 2018.

In the Cyclones’ opening game of the season against Central Florida, Rhodes had the second most blocks for Iowa State with four. But her next performance against Ole Miss is what flashed on the box score.

For the third time in her career, Rhodes reached double-digit blocks with 10 — a number she totalled the other times she was in double digits for blocks.

Rhodes has reached 10 blocks in every season she has appeared in as a Cyclone — first as a freshman in her first career start and then as a sophomore in 2018 before she was shut down and subsequently redshirted due to a hip injury.

Despite those other performances, this is the first time Rhodes has been named the Big 12’s best player on the defense for the week.