Francesco Sani Award Offensive Player of the Week Week Of 4/3/2023 Sport Men's Volleyball School UC Irvine Year Junior Position Outside Hitter Hometown Bethesda, Maryland High School Walter Johnson HS Francesco Sani kept No. 5 UC Irvine (16-6) as the lone unbeaten still in The Big West at 6-0 by leading the sweep of its home-and-home series with No. 15 CSUN and picking up a second career Big West Offensive Player of the Week award. The true junior opposite hitter averaged 6.17 points, 5.67 kills and 1.33 digs per set while hitting at an efficient .397 (34-7-68) clip. Friday night in Irvine, Sani contributed 11 kills (match high), four digs, two aces, two block assists and a set assist for 14.0 total points. The product of Bethesda, Md., added a match-high 23 kills on .475 (23-4-40) hitting and four digs for 23.0 points to lead all players Saturday in Northridge. Sani has now eclipsed the 20-kill mark in six contests this season, with a high of 26, and has reached double digits in all but one. Sani’s first Big West Offensive Player of the Week honor came late last season on April 11, 2022. Current teammates Hilir Henno (Jan. 9 and March 20) and Cole Gillis (Jan. 23) have totaled three such selections earlier this year. Sani was also a two-time Big West Freshman of the Week in 2021, on March 8 and April 19.