UCSB’s Weston Neilsen
Junior outside hitter Weston Nielsen was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week on Monday afternoon after leading the fifth-ranked UC Santa Barbara men’s volleyball team to an undefeated final week of the regular season with wins over Cal Baptist and regular season conference-champs BYU.
In the pair of wins, Nielsen recorded 30 kills and hit at a blistering .542 clip. His performance helped the Gauchos finish with a 16-8 record in MPSF play — the most conference wins in program history — and home-court advantage in at least the first round of the MPSF Tournament.
In a sweep of the the Lancers, Nielsen had 12 kills on an efficient 16 swings to pace the Gauchos attack.
Against the Cougars, Nielsen had a match-best 18 kills with just two errors on a night in which the opposition recorded 12 blocks at the net. He added seven digs in the four-set win.
Nielsen becomes the second Gaucho to be named the conference Player of the Week this season. Sophomore setter Jonah Seif picked up the weekly honor on Feb. 10 after recording a triple-double against then-No. 5 USC.
This Saturday night, fourth-seeded UC Santa Barbara will host postseason volleyball for the first time since 2007 and just the second time since 1996 as the ninth-ranked and fifth-seeded UCLA Bruins will be in town for the MPSF Tournament Quarterfinals. The match, slated to be played at Rob Gym at 7:00 p.m., is expected to sell out,
