Irvine, Calif. – UC Irvine opposite Carson Clark has been named Sports Imports/AVCA Men's Division I-II National Player of the Week after helping the top ranked Anteaters extend their winning streak to nine with two wins on the road last week.
The senior hit a blistering .667 with 17 kills to start the week in a 3-0 victory against then No. 13 Cal State Northridge. He also added two aces, two block assists and five digs versus the Matadors. In the final two sets at Northridge, Clark was almost unstoppable putting away 15 kills on 21 swings without an error (.714). He continued the hot hand in the first set versus No. 9 Long Beach State with four kills on seven attempts still not committing an error (.571). The opposite made an impact in the 3-0 victory versus the Forty-Niners with three aces and nine kills.
For the week, Clark bettered his season averages with 4.33 kills. 0.83 aces and 5.33 points while hitting .471. He committed just two hitting errors in six sets last week.
Following last week's action, Clark became UCI's all-time leader in kills with 1,712. He also owns the UCI career records for attack attempts (3,689) and aces (162). Clark currently ranks No. 1 in the country in ace average (0.56) and ranks eight in kills per set (3.68) and 10th in hitting percentage (.337).
This is the 19th time a UCI player has been named a Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week, with the most recent coming earlier this year when Kevin Tillie took home the honor on January 31. This marks the third time Clark has garnered the award in his career (April 4, 2011, April 12, 2010).
UCI is idle this week for final examinations and will return to action hosting UC Santa Barbara on Mar. 30 at 7:00 p.m. in Crawford Court.
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