Lexi Roberson of AJ volleyball voted The Herald’s Fall Sports Athlete of the Week

Lexi Roberson of the Andrew Jackson volleyball team has been voted The Herald’s latest Fall Sports Athlete of the Week.

The Volunteers’ senior middle had 16 kills, 10 digs, three blocks and one ace in 3-0 win over Cheraw on Sept. 7. She also had 17 kills, seven digs, three blocks and three aces in a 3-0 victory at Chesterfield on Sept. 9. She additionally had a productive day at a tournament on Sept. 11 in Hillcrest — which is where she notched her 1000th-career kill.

There were 22,056 votes cast in this week’s poll. Roberson earned 27.1% of the vote, Marie Durflinger of York swimming earned 20.8% of the vote and Lauren Husted of Northwestern tennis earned 16.1% of the vote.

View the nominees below.

Meet this week’s finalists

Taylor Atkinson, Nation Ford volleyball. The Falcons’ senior outside hitter had a busy week: Atkinson had 14 kills, five digs and one ace in a 2-0 win at Byrnes on Sept. 7. The same day, she added 10 kills, two digs and two aces in a 2-0 victory over JL Mann. Atkinson also notched 18 kills, 14 digs and an ace in a 3-0 win over Rock Hill on Sept. 9. (Atkinson, a Duke University commit, has 102 kills, 80 digs and 17 aces for Nation Ford (9-3) this season.)

Alivia Cleveland, Fort Mill cross country. The Yellow Jackets’ eighth-grade runner notched a personal-best 19:21.80 to finish second at the Trojan Invitational at Northwestern on Sept. 11. (The Fort Mill girls won the same event as a team.) Cleveland also won the individual title versus Nation Ford on Sept. 7.

Emma Dent, Clover swimming. The Blue Eagles’ eighth-grader won all four events she competed in at a meet against Northwestern this past week. That meant Dent finished in first place in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle — and added a first place in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Dent also had a strong performance at the Upstate Invitational at Fort Mill Aquatic Center on Sept. 11, finishing third in the 500 freestyle, seventh in the 100 butterfly and sixth in both the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.

Mason Haynes, Nation Ford cross country. The freshman ran a personal-best 16:41.20 to finish third at the Trojan Invitational on Sept. 11 at Northwestern High School — where Nation Ford notched a runner-up finish as a team. Haynes also finished fifth overall in a meet with Fort Mill on Sept. 7.

Lauren Husted, Northwestern tennis. The Trojans’ senior won her No. 3 singles match against Ridge View — 6-1, 6-1 — as Northwestern won 6-0 as a team on Sept. 7. Husted also won her No. 2 doubles match with teammate Alaina Hope in dramatic fashion (1-6, 7-5, 10-8 in a third-set tiebreaker) in a 4-2 loss at Blythewood on Sept. 9. The Northwestern girls’ tennis team is 2-4 this season.

Zac Nelson, Fort Mill swimming. The Yellow Jackets’ senior won all four events he swam in — including the 200 individual medley, 100 freestyle, 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay — as Fort Mill came in first place at a meet on Sept. 7. Nelson also led his Fort Mill team to victory at the Upstate Invitational on Sept. 11, which included a first-place finish for him in the 200 medley relay.

Lexi Roberson, Andrew Jackson volleyball.

Aiyana Uter, Catawba Ridge tennis. The junior won singles matches against Indian Land and Lancaster to keep Catawba Ridge unbeaten at 7-0 this season: She won her singles match (6-3, 6-0) in a 6-0 team sweep at Lancaster on Sept. 7. She also won her singles match (6-1, 6-4) in a 5-1 victory over Indian Land on Sept. 9.

Marie Durflinger, York swimming. The senior swam a personal-best time in three events at the Upstate Invitational at Fort Mill Aquatic Center on Sept. 11: The Cougar posted those times in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle and in her leg of the team’s 400 freestyle relay. (Durflinger and her team — Zosia Durbin, Addy Branch and Ava Haese — saw their collective relay time improve 11 seconds.)

View full results here

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How to nominate

Athlete of the Week awards highlight high school players with outstanding performances. The goal is to recognize all athletes — both the accomplished and the underrated/underappreciated players. If you want to suggest someone to be included in the ballot in future weeks, send an email to Jay Edwards at edwardswork23@gmail.com. Please include the athlete’s name, school, class and applicable game performance statistics. Coaches must be willing to verify information. The Herald reserves the right to remove a name from the poll at its discretion.

This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 6:17 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.