Alex Nikolov Award Freshman of the Week Week Of 4/11/2022 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-second-ranked Long Beach State to a split of its home-and-home series with then-10th-ranked UC San Diego, averaging 5.00 points, 3.63 kills, 1.25 digs, 1.00 blocks and 0.88 aces per set with a .423 attack percentage. The Bulgarian native had a match-high 12 kills on a season-best .611 (12-1-18) hitting in Friday’s straight-set victory to move the Beach to 14-1 inside the Walter Pyramid. He added four block assists, two digs, one ace and one set assist. In Saturday’s five-set loss in La Jolla, Nikolov shared the match high of 17 kills (.324), to go with eight digs, four more block assists, and a season- and match-best six service aces. Nikolov is one of three Beach players to start all 21 contests, and has registered double-figure kill totals in 19 of them, including 11 in a row. He continues to lead his team in both kills (341) and aces (49). Nikolov is a record eight-time Big West Freshman of the Week, having now earned four straight honors after previously picking up three in a row starting on Jan. 24, with another selection in between on March 7. He is also a two-time Offensive Player of the Week (Jan. 24 and April 4). Former LBSU middle blocker Simon Andersen was a seven-time Big West Freshman of the Week during the league’s first season in 2018.