IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine men's volleyball players swept The Big West weekly awards after taking down No. 5 BYU in a pair of matches last week.

Nolan Flexen was named Offensive Player of the Week, while Joe Karlous was Setter of the Week and Micah Goss was Defensive and Freshman of the Week.

Flexen was dominant in two wins over the Cougars, averaging 5.00 kills, 5.63 points, 1.75 digs and 1.00 blocks for the week. In the first match, he put down a career-high 26 kills, including five in the final fifth set. He also recorded a career-high nine digs and added a season-high five block assists and one ace. The next night, the senior totaled 14 kills in the sweep with five digs and three block assists. He hit .423 (40-7-78) against the previously unbeaten Cougars.  This is Flexen's first Big West weekly honor. He is currently fourth in the country in kills (4.29) and points (5.09) per set and is eighth in hitting percentage (.426).

Karlous guided UCI to a pair of victories over previously unbeaten BYU with an average of 10.38 set assists and 3.50 digs. The grad student had a season-high 53 set assists and 12 digs in the first meeting then totaled 36 set assists and tied his career-high with 16 digs in the second. He recorded an ace and two block assists over the two matches. Behind Karlous, the Anteaters hit .335 for the week. It is his first Setter of the Week recognition and second weekly award overall, claiming the defensive award on March 20, 2023. Karlous leads The Big West in digs with a 2.43 average and is third in set assists with a 10.36 mark, which is 11th and eighth in the country, respectively. 

Goss controlled the net last week averaging 1.88 blocks while averaging 1.63 kills. The middle blocker had a career-high eight block assists in the opening contest, including a solo block with UCI leading 13-12 in the fifth set to give the Anteaters match point. He also tied his career-high with eight kills and two digs. The freshman followed that performance with six blocks and five kills in a sweep of the Cougars. Overall, Goss is averaging to 1.44 blocks per set, fifth-best in the country. 

No. 2 UC Irvine will travel to No. 9 Stanford this week for a pair of matches Friday and Saturday.