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Michigan's Sharayah Hernandez Named May 11 Western Division Player of the Week
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Sharayah Hernandez (Sr., Pico Rivera, Calif/El Rancho) of the University of Michigan totaled two goals, five assists, two steals, three field blocks and two kick-outs drawn to earn the May 11 Western Division Player of the Week award and lead the No. 11-ranked Wolverines to a fifth place finish at the 2009 NCAA Championship.
The Player of the Week on April 14 and 21, 2008, she picked up her third career POW honor as she powered Michigan to wins over Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) champion Marist College (9-7 W) in the second round and No. 9-ranked and Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) champion Loyola Marymount Univeristy (11-7 W) in the fifth place game, while falling to No. 3-ranked and eventual national champion University of California-Los Angeles in the first round (13-6 L), as the Maize and Blue placed fifth in the national championship field.
She tallied a statistic in each of Michigan's NCAA games this year drawing a kick-out against UCLA before tallying a goal with a pair of assists and two steals versus Marist. Her best game of the weekend came against the Lions as she registered a goal, three assists, three field blocks and drew a kick-out as Michigan, which trailed 4-3 at halftime and 7-3 with 5:12 left in the third period, outshot LMU 13-7 in the final 13 minutes of play and outscored the Lions 8-0 over the same stretch to rout Loyola Marymount and place fifth at the NCAA Championship for the first time in program history.
Overall, the Wolverines finish
equaled the mark of the 2007 Hartwick College Hawks which knocked
off LMU 13-12 at the 2007 NCAA Championship for the highest finish
by a Collegiate Water Polo Association team since the NCAA field
expanded to eight teams in 2005.
The win over LMU was also historic as the Maize and Blue
established program records for wins in a season (35) and
single-season winning percentage (.795).
Only three players have tallied seven or more points at an NCAA Championship for the Wolverines, and Hernandez has done it twice. She is the program leader with eight assists and 14 points at the national tournament. Hernandez's two-goal, five-assist performance was a follow up on her 2008 NCAA Championship showing in which she scored four goals and assisted on three others.
She concludes her career with 94 goals, 112 assists and 206 points tor the ninth-highest career point total and fourth highest assist mark in program history.
Hernandez and her six fellow seniors wrap-up their careers with a 122-48 overall record, having led the Wolverines through the most successful four-year period in program history.
