ANDERSON, S.C. – Anderson University men's soccer graduate student Agustin Ortiz has been named the Jimmy John's Male Athlete of the Week, while volleyball junior Madison Roy and women's tennis freshman Mercedes Neumeier-White have been named Co-Female Athletes of the Week.
Ortiz, a 5-foot-9 midfielder from Mendoza, Argentina, scored two goals for the Trojans in their 2-0 win over Limestone last week. One of Ortiz's goals came off a free kick that he placed in the upper corner of the goal. Ortiz, who has started three matches for the Black and Gold, shares the team lead in both goals (2) and assists (2) and has five points on the season.
Roy was named the AstroTurf SAC Volleyball Specialist of the Week earlier Wednesday after helping lead the Trojans to their third straight win, including an unblemished 2-0 record last week. She averaged 13.86 assists and more than two digs per set on the week, including her first career double-double in AU's sweep of Mars Hill last week.
The North Myrtle Beach, S.C., native began the week by dishing out 47 assists and coming up with 10 digs in the three-set sweep of Mars Hill. Roy followed up with 50 assists – just one assist shy of her career-high - in the Trojans' four-set victory at Limestone on Friday night. She notched three service aces in the two wins and was credited with six block assists, including a career-best four at Limestone. Roy leads the conference in both assists (205) and assists per set (10.79), while ranking 19th in digs (40), 21st in service aces and 24th in total blocks.
During the South Atlantic Conference's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's (SAAC) Kindness Challenge this past week, Neumeier-White led by example and gave back to the community. She participated in the care packages for Mars Hill's volleyball team where each student-athlete on the Lions' squad was given a care package last Tuesday. Neumeier-White also led a one-mile awareness run for Make-A-Wish with the women's tennis team last Sunday.
On Monday, she volunteered to help clean up litter at the Rocky River Nature Trail where the SAAC loaded up bags full of trash and debris from the site and surrounding streets. Last Thursday, she helped deliver care packages to the SAAC representatives from Southern Wesleyan. She also volunteered her time to help serve at the canned food drive for Anderson Interfaith Ministries and contributed to the project in addition to her time. She went above-and-beyond to the Make-A-Wish drawing held last Saturday at the softball game when more than $1,000 was raised by SAAC for Make-A-Wish. Mercedes has also volunteered her time to help with the SAAC Instagram page - helping improve the posts and increase followers through her social media influence.
Each week, one male and one female student-athlete are honored as the Jimmy John's Athlete of the Week for his or her performance in competition, in the classroom, or in the community.
