LEXINGTON, KY - New Jersey City University men's volleyball freshman middle hitter Sheldon Coure has received the ultimate weekly recognition for his efforts on the court—as the Gothic Knights' newcomer has been named the Sports Imports AVCA Men's Division III National Player of the Week, the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced on Mar. 4.

Coure, nicknamed 'Jet' because of his explosive vertical leap despite being just 6-foot-2, becomes only the second men's volleyball player in the 25-year history of the NJCU program to be named National Player of the Week, joining former NJCU standout Damon LaSalle, who was honored on Feb.  20, 2006.

It's the eighth overall National Player of the Week award between the men's and women's programs at NJCU. Former women's great Lizzelle Cintron won a record six AVCA National Player of the Week honors in a career that spanned 2004-07.

Meanwhile, Coure is the first men's freshman to receive the distinction in more than two seasons. The last winner was February 27, 2012 when Juniata's Joe Bortak was selected. In all, Coure is only the seventh freshman to win the award since 2000.

"Sheldon has improved his game tremendously since he arrived on campus," praised first-year head coach Robert Cole. "He came in as a raw middle with very little indoor experience but he's been eager to learn and has worked his tail off in practice. We kind of threw the kitchen sink at him in terms of playing in our system but he's handled it well. We're proud of the progress he's made but we think he's got a long way to go before he's a complete player."

Coure was named the Skyline Conference Rookie of the Week in consecutive weeks—Feb. 24 and Mar. 3—and the Business Administration major with a Pre-Law minor, has taken charge on the court.

In a 3-0 week for the Gothic Knights, Coure posted sensational efforts and averaged 5.73 points, 4.55 kills, 1.27 blocks, and 0.45 service aces per set while hitting at a .451 rate. In all, he tallied 63.0 points, 50 kills (50-13-82), 14 blocks (two solo, 12 assisted), five aces and five digs to help lead NJCU to a six-match winning streak.

Most notably last week was a two-match performance at the Skyline Conference Quad in Riverdale, NY. Coure had 44 kills in the two matches, finishing with a .479 attack percentage in the two Skyline matches (44-10-71) and 11 blocks.

He posted a career high 19 kills in a 3-0 sweep of The Sage Colleges (25-20, 25-20, 25-21)—then broke it—slamming 25 kills as NJCU outlasted the home team, the College of Mount Saint Vincent, 3-2 (19-25, 25-16, 27-25, 29-31, 15-12).

Coure became just the sixth player on record in the 25-year history of the program to register 25 or more kills in a match and it's the 14th total occurrence in program history.

"In the Sage match my connection with setter Gary Preston, Jr. definitely reached an all-time high," Coure said, crediting the NJCU senior captain. "We were on the same wavelength when we were running different plays. I was closing my blocks better, trying to take part of the court away. It was the exact same thing in the Mount Saint Vincent match. This [award] means a lot to me. I'm actually surprised. I definitely want to thank everyone for the support and will keep continuing the progress with my game."
                                                                                                                              
In the 3-2 win over Mount Saint Vincent, Coure hit .462 with the 25 kills in 39 swings (seven errors), adding five blocks (two solo).

In the neutral court sweep of Sage, which was picked No. 3 in the Skyline preseason poll—ahead of projected fourth-place NJCU—he had what was at the time a new career high with 19 kills and a .500 percentage, making only three errors in 32 swings. He added six blocks and two digs.

Earlier in the week in a 3-0 road sweep of Yeshiva University on February 27, Coure helped NJCU improve to 26-0 all-time, all via sweeps, against YU, by landing six kills, five service aces, three blocks and two digs while hitting .273.

On the season, Coure is one of only two players to have seen the floor in all 45 sets. In that time, he has collected 148.0 points, 119 kills, 33 blocks (five solo, 28 assisted), 16 digs and 10 aces while hitting at a .321 clip (119-42-240). He is averaging 3.29 points, 2.64 kills, 0.73 blocks, 0.36 digs and 0.22 aces per set. His season averages jumped by 0.79 points, 0.61 kills and 0.17 blocks in the last three matches.