Colorado State junior and middle blocker Paulina Hougaard-Jensen took home Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week honors Monday after a career-high weekend that featured sweeps of both Boise State University and Utah State University.

It was the second weekly conference award that Hougaard-Jensen has won in her career and the first of her career on the offensive end. The hitter was remarkably efficient for the weekend offensively but did not stray away on defense either as she led the team in blocks.
Over the course of the weekend, Hougaard-Jensen recorded 27 kills to lead the Rams while also hitting at a .556 pace, buoyed by a dominant performance against USU. In their sweep of Utah, Hougaard-Jensen was able to set career highs in both kills and hitting percentage with 16 kills and a .727 percentage respectively.
Part of a broader plan to get more players involved in the offense, particularly from their middle positions, Hougaard-Jensen alluded to a new mindset helping her. The team altogether is attempting to get back to playing as well as they have in the past after a slow start to the season and conference play.
“We’re working really hard on being positive in practice and not just thinking about practice as something we have to get over with, But actually being happy and playing for each other.” Paulina Hougaard-Jensen
Hougaard-Jensen and the Rams will have the chance to extend their streak of strong play this week as they go on the road to take on the University of New Mexico Oct. 18 and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Oct. 20.
Mackenzie Beaulieu can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @Mack_Covers.