Maxim Grigoriev Award Freshman of the Week Week Of 3/13/2023 Sport Men's Volleyball School UC Irvine Year Freshman Position Middle Blocker Hometown Walnut Creek, Calif. High School Northgate Maxim Grigoriev helped lead No. 6 UC Irvine to the sweep of its home-and-home Big West series with UC San Diego and grab a first Big West Freshman of the Week honor. Grigoriev made two starts and averaged 2.92 points, 2.17 kills and 1.50 blocks per set in the two straight-set triumphs over the Tritons, hitting .650 (13-0-20) without committing a single attack error on 20 swings. The product of Walnut Creek hit .556 (5-0-9) in Friday’s tilt in Irvine, finishing with five kills on nine attempts to go along with a match-best (tied) five block assists, one set assist and a dig. In Saturday’s rematch in La Jolla, Grigoriev hit a season-best .727 (8-0-11) with eight kills and four more block assists for 10.0 total points. This is UC Irvine’s third Big West Freshman of the Week award for 2023, with William D’Arcy a two-time recipient on Jan. 16 and Feb. 13.