PROVO -- The AVCA announced Monday that BYU setter Rob Neilson has been named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I-II Men's National Player of the Week for his stellar play in two matches against the University of Hawai'i last weekend (March 18 and 19). A Cougar student-athlete has earned the national honor 13 times.
Neilson, a 6-3 junior setter for the No. 6 Cougars, guided BYU to back-to-back sweeps of the No. 3 Hawai'i Warriors. In the first match on Friday, he charted 37 assists, a career-high seven block assists, eight digs and two kills while pacing the Cougars to a .296 hitting percentage.
He stepped up his play to an even higher level Saturday, breaking his career-high in blocks with nine (one solo and eight assists). Neilson also had 45 assists, five digs and three kills. The Cougars hit .317 for the match.
For the season, Neilson averages 13.21 assists, 0.81 blocks, 1.30 digs and 0.86 kills per game. In his first season as the starting setter for the defending national champions, Neilson has guided BYU to a 14-7 record overall and a 9-5 mark in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. After a rough start, Neilson and the Cougars have won seven of their last eight matches and are in position to make another championship run.