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Long Beach State’s Moni Nikolov has claimed Big West Freshman of the Week honors after directing the Long Beach State offense to a pair of sweeping victories over ranked foes. This is the setter’s fourth freshman award of the season (Jan. 20, Feb. 10 and 17).
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Nikolov leads the country in ace average at 1.121, far and away ahead of second-place Hilir Henno of UC Irvine at 0.673. Nikolov’s 9.60 assists per set season average rates fifth in the league and 20th nationally.
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In Saturday’s win against the Tigers, Nikolov added four kills, two blocks and three aces to the stat sheet, alongside the 30-assist effort. Starting every match at setter, Nikolov and the Beach are now 18-0 on the year.
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On Friday, the product of Sofia, Bulgaria, was in on four blocks and served up seven strikes against CSUN. With a tally of 65 aces and counting, Nikolov is now the Long Beach State single-season aces record holder with more than a month remaining of the season.
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Nikolov averaged 10.0 assists per set, finishing with 30 apiece in a pair of sweeps of No. 7 CSUN and No. 19 Princeton. Nikolov led Long Beach State to team hitting totals of .387 against the Matadors and .333 against the Tigers