Bee’s Best: The winner of the boys and girls Athlete of the Week for Aug. 23-28 is ...

Grace Van Der Kooi of Central Valley Christian volleyball is this week’s winner of The Fresno Bee’s Player of the Week poll for Aug. 23.

Van Der Kooi picked up 51% of the votes, finishing ahead of Marissa Mendrin of Kerman volleyball who had 36.8%. Rounding up the top five is Hannah Baker of Exeter volleyball (6.5%), Karen Creviston of Hoover water polo (3.9%).

Eight high school athletes in boys and girls water polo and girls volleyball were nominated.

Readers can vote again next week. Voting will last until noon Friday.

Fall coaches may submit nominations with stats from this week’s action to agalaviz@fresnobee.com.

Here were the nominees for this past week

Karen Creviston, Hoover water polo: Scored a team-high seven goals in the Patriots’ 15-4 win over Kerman. She finished with 10 goals for the week.

Hannah Baker, Exeter volleyball: Led the Monarchs with 17 kills and added 25 digs in a five-set win over Porterville.

Duncan Champagne, Tulare Western water polo: He finished with nine steals, five assists and four goals in four games played at the Tulare Union Tournament. The Mustangs won the tournament final 12-2 over Mt. Whitney.

Marissa Mendrin, Kerman volleyball: Helped lead the Lions to a championship win in the Caruthers Raisin Harvest Tournament. Earlier in the week, she served a perfect game against Parlier.

Kassandra Perez, El Diamante volleyball: Totaled 10 kills and 17 digs in the Miners’ five-set win over Mission Oak.

Cassidy Tomilson-Buffington, Central water polo: Finished with 10 goals, leading the Grizzlies past Madera South 18-14. She also had five assists and four steals.

Grace Van Der Kooi, Central Valley Christian volleyball: Was named the most valuable player of the Clovis Challenge and helped her team to the title win with 12 kills and 11 digs.

Ben Watson, Strathmore water polo: Recorded 10 saves, helping the Spartans hold off Tulare Union 10-8 in a nonleague game.

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 11:11 AM.

Anthony Galaviz

The Fresno Bee

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Anthony Galaviz writes about sports for The Fresno Bee. He covers the Las Vegas Raiders, high schools, boxing, MMA and junior colleges. He’s been with The Bee since 1997 and attended Fresno City College before graduating from Fresno State with a major in journalism and a minor in criminology. Support my work with a digital subscription