Joe Karlous Award Defensive Player of the Week Week Of 3/20/2023 Sport Men's Volleyball School UC Irvine Year Position Setter Hometown Costa Mesa, Calif. High School Newport Harbor UC Irvine setter Joe Karlous notched a pair of double-doubles against UC Santa Barbara to nab a first career Big West Defensive Player of the Week honor. In a five-set victory at UCSB, the junior had 10 digs to go with a season-high 53 set assists. Karlous also chipped in two block assists and an ace in the victory. In Friday’s second meeting against the Gauchos, Karlous totaled 11 digs, 33 set assists, two block assists, an ace and a kill in three sets on the court. The Costa Mesa, Calif., native averaged 2.63 digs, 0.50 blocks and 10.75 assists per set for the week. Karlous sits in the conference top-10 in assists (8.91 - 5th) and digs (1.90 - 6th) per set, with both figures good for 29th nationally.