Senior Kyle Hobus led CSUN to a split with UC Irvine to secure a third career nod as Big West Offensive Player of the Week, the second of the 2024 campaign. Last week, Hobus was tapped for weekly defensive honors. 

Hobus put down a match-high 19 kills in a 3-1 win at home on Friday night, hitting at a .342 clip on 38 swings. The outside hitter also had three of CSUN's four aces while matching a season-high with six blocks.  

On Saturday in Irvine, the San Pedro, Calif., native finished with 16 kills, hitting .367 on a team-high 30 swings to go with five digs, a pair of blocks, and one ace. 

Hobus is currently in the top three in The Big West in aces per set (.427), kills per set (3.76) and points per set (4.66). The points average rates seventh in national collegiate men’s volleyball. 

Long Beach State’s DiAeris McRaven earned a pair of starts at middle blocker last week to claim a first career Big West Defensive Player of the Week award.  

McRaven averaged 1.83 blocks per set while contributing 2.17 kills per set on a .450 (13-4-20) attack percentage as the Beach downed UC San Diego in a pair of sweeps.  

McRaven kicked off the week posting seven blocks, a career-high seven kills, and two digs, while hitting .500 (7-2-10) in Friday’s home contest.  

The junior from Honolulu, O’ahu, came back the next night at UCSD and added four blocks, six kills, and one dig, on a .400 (6-2-10) attack percentage in the three-setter over the Tritons. 

McRaven is averaging just under a block per set, denying 31 attempts in 32 sets played this season. Long Beach State currently leads the nation in team blocking with a 3.360 blocks per set average. 

Hawai’i first-year player Louis Sakanoko powered the Rainbow Warriors offense to a 2-0 weekend to claim Big West Freshman of the Week. The Paris, France, native has now claimed three straight honors, and four this season.  

Sakanoko led the team with 24 kills, or 3.00 per set, in UH's two-match series sweep of UC Santa Barbara to close out the regular-season home slate for the ‘Bows. The outside hitter also recorded 13 digs (1.63 per set) and nine blocks (1.13 per set) while hitting .293 in the series.  

Sakanoko had nine kills on .273 hitting with six digs and three blocks in a straight-set victory over the Gauchos on Friday. In Saturday’s rematch, Sakanoko provided a match-high 15 kills, hitting .306 with seven digs, and a season-high six blocks in a five-set win. 

Combined with fellow UH frosh Tread Rosenthal, the duo has picked up 10 of the 13 weekly freshman honors this season.