George Bruening Award Defensive Player of the Week Week Of 2/23/2026 Sport Men's Volleyball School UC Santa Barbara Year Position Outside Hitter Hometown Newport Beach, Calif. High School Corona Del Mar HS Helping UC Santa Barbara to a pair of home victories, George Bruening has been named Big West Defensive Player of the Week. This is Bruening’s first career defensive accolade, winning the offensive award back on Jan. 12. Bruening led the team in digs for the week while also leading on offense with averages of 4.29 kills and 2.29 digs per set over a pair of ranked opponents. Friday, the redshirt sophomore outside hitter from Newport Beach, Calif., reached a career-high 12 digs versus then-No. 19 Lincoln Memorial while also powering down 14 kills and contributing five blocks in the four-setter. Wednesday in the sweeping win over then-No. 6 Pepperdine, Bruening added four digs and 16 kills on .355 hitting.