Alex Nikolov Award Freshman of the Week Week Of 3/28/2022 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 then-third-ranked Long Beach State to a weekend sweep of No. 6 UC Santa Barbara, tallying a remarkable 40 kills over seven frames for an average of 5.71 per set. He attacked at a .359 (40-12-78) rate and added 11 digs, three block assists and three set assists. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria first produced a match-high 23 kills, one shy of his career best, and hit .450 (23-5-40) with five digs and three blocks at home on Friday. The next night in Santa Barbara, Nikolov contributed another match high of 17 kills, six digs and three assists. Nikolov is one of three Beach players to start all 17 matches, and has registered double-figure kill totals in 15 of them. He leads his team in both kills (271) and aces (37). ?Nikolov is a six-time Big West Freshman of the Week, having earned three prior awards consecutively beginning Jan. 24, another on March 7, and now two more in a row. He was also the Offensive Player of the Week on Jan. 24.