Jeff Menzel has been named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Player of the Week after leading the UCSB men’s volleyball team to road wins at Long Beach State and UC San Diego last weekend.
On Friday, Feb. 12, Menzel slammed a career-high 34 kills, including seven in the fifth set, while adding 11 digs for the double-double in UCSB’s five-set come-from-behind victory at No. 6 Long Beach State.
The next night, Menzel tallied 33 kills, nine digs, and five blocks as the Gauchos captured their second victory in just as many nights, overtaking UC San Diego 3-2 at RIMAC.
With the pair of victories, UCSB is now ranked No. 8 in the country according to the ACVA Division I-II Men’s Coaches Poll, its highest ranking since finishing the 2007 season as No. 7. UCSB (6-7, 6-4 MPSF) is in sixth place in conference, just percentage points out of third place and just one half-game behind second-place Stanford.
In the two matches combined, Menzel averaged 33.5 kills, 6.70 kills per set, 10 digs, 69 attack attempts and an ace while hitting .304 for the week (67-25-138). His previous career-high of 32 kills came against George Mason on March 11, 2009.
Menzel currently leads the MPSF in kills (336), kills per set (5.60) and points per set (6.29). He has 20 aces so far this season, averaging .33 per set.
The junior outside hitter leads the Gauchos in kills (336), total attacks (736), service aces (20), and total points (377.5). He currently ranks seventh all-time in UCSB program history in career kills with 1,613. He is fourth all-time in UCSB program history with 2,913 attack attempts.
Menzel is the second Gaucho to earn MPSF Player of the Week honors this season. Fellow outside hitter Cullen Irons won the prize on February 1 after averaging 5.29 kills per set while hitting .397 for that particular week.
No. 8 UCSB is back in action Wednesday, February 17th, as the Gauchos welcome No. 6 UCLA to Rob Gym. Match-time is set for 7 p.m.
