Maxim Grigoriev Award Freshman of the Week Week Of 4/3/2023 Sport Men's Volleyball School UC Irvine Year Freshman Position Middle Blocker Hometown Walnut Creek, Calif. High School Northgate Maxim Grigoriev aided fifth-ranked and first-place UC Irvine (16-6, 6-0 Big West) to the sweep of its home-and-home Big West series with No. 15 CSUN, picking up a third Big West Freshman of the Week award. Grigoriev averaged 1.42 points, 0.83 kills and 0.83 blocks per set in the two straight-set triumphs over the Matadors, hitting .556 (5-0-9) without an attack error over nine swings. The product of Walnut Creek put down four kills on five attempts without an error (.800) on Friday night in Irvine, adding three block assists for 5.5 total points. In Saturday’s rematch in Northridge, Grigoriev had one kill (1-0-4, .250), two block assists, one ace and a dig for 3.0 points. This is UC Irvine’s league-best fifth Big West Freshman of the Week award for 2023, with William D’Arcy a two-time recipient on Jan. 16 and Feb. 13. Grigoriev now shares the individual lead with UC San Diego redshirt freshman Josh Schellinger, with previous selections back-to-back on March 13 and March 20.