Alex Nikolov Award Freshman of the Week Week Of 3/7/2022 Sport Men's Volleyball School Long Beach State Year Freshman Position Outside Hitter Hometown Sofia, Bulgaria High School Vasil Levski Sport School Freshman outside hitter Alex Nikolov led No. 2 Long Beach State to a pair of comfortable home wins over NJIT (3-1) and Long Island (3-0). Nikolov averaged 4.43 kills per set while hitting .439. He also posted 1.00 digs, 1.00 aces, 0.71 blocks and 0.43 assists per set. Nikolov led all players with 19 kills and three aces on Friday against NJIT, attacking at a .351 clip. He added match highs of 12 kills and four aces on a season-best .600 (12-0-20) hitting in Saturday’s sweep. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, is now a four-time Big West Freshman of the Week, having earlier notched three straight nods beginning Jan. 24, as well as one Offensive Player of the Week award on that date.