Following another impressive week in which she led the UCSB women’s volleyball team to a pair of wins, senior outside hitter Rebecca Saraceno was again named the Big West’s Player of the Week, the conference announced on Monday.
Saraceno, who also won the award last week, has now been named Big West Player of the Week an unprecedented four times this season, the only player in UCSB volleyball’s illustrious history to receive four weekly awards in a season.
In fact, Saraceno is only the sixth player in Big West history to garner four or more weekly honors in a season. Former Big West Player of the Year Janine Sandell (2005) and Roberta Gehlke (1999) won only four Big West Player of the Week awards in their entire Gaucho careers.
In upsetting No. 19 UC Irvine for the second time this season, Saraceno had 28 kills and 13 digs, her 13th double-double this season and her kill total was one shy of her career-best. Facing two-person blocks the entire match, Saraceno was still able to put down nine kills in the fourth set and then seven more in the fifth set to give the Gauchos the win.
Against UC Riverside Saraceno had 13 kills and seven more digs, giving her an even 400 kills on the season. The Redondo Beach native is averaging 4.65 kills per set and 2.69 digs per set. Her kill average is seventh in the nation. Saraceno needs just seven more kills to move into 10th place all-time in school history. She hasn’t had less than 11 kills in a single match this season.
UCSB hosts Cal State Fullerton this Friday and Long Beach State on Saturday. Both matches start at 7 p.m. in the Thunderdome.
