Mason Briggs, Alex Nikolov Earn Big West Weekly Awards

3/28/2022 3:24:00 PM | Men's Volleyball

Mason Briggs is named Defensive Player of the Week, while Alex Nikolov takes home another Freshman of the Week honor

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

IRVINE, Calif. – Coming off of a pair of wins over No. 6 UC Santa Barbara last week, No. 2 Long Beach State was honored with two Big West Player of the Week awards as sophomore libero Mason Briggs collected Defensive Player of the Week honors and freshman Alex Nikolov was named Freshman Player of the Week.

Briggs claimed his first-ever Big West weekly honor after anchoring the Beach defense in the backrow as he averaged 3.86 digs per set to go along with 30 errorless receptions against No. 6 UC Santa Barbara. The Valencia, Calif., native kicked off the week with 13 digs on Friday night in a four-set home win, before adding another 14 digs in Saturday's straight-set sweep at UC Santa Barbara.

Mason Briggs? More like Mason DIGS! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/DXJK48NP2N
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) March 26, 2022

Nikolov is a six-time Big West Freshman of the Week honoree as he picked up this weeks accolades after leading the Beach with 40 kills over seven frames for an average of 5.71 kills per set. He hit .359 (40-12-78) on the week, while also contributing 11 digs, three block assists, and three assists. The product our of Sofia, Bulgaria tallied 23 kills, one shy of his career-high, and hit .450 with five digs, and three blocks against the Gauchos on Friday at the Walter Pyramid. He turned around and registered 17 kills, six digs, and three assists at UC Santa Barbara the next night.