PROVO, Utah — Junior outside hitter Luke Benson and senior middle blocker Gavin Julien of the No. 7 BYU men's volleyball team swept this week's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation weekly honors, with Benson winning Offensive Player of the Week and Julien claiming Defensive Player of the Week.
Benson led the Cougars with 47 kills on a .412 hitting percentage through two five-set victories over No. 8 Pepperdine on the road, averaging 4.70 kills per set. On Friday, Benson led the Cougars with 21 kills in the match on .318 clip, tying his career high in kills. The following day, Benson led all players in kills with 26 to set a new career high. His record-setting performance on Saturday included a .512 hitting percentage and five blocks. Benson has the most kills out of all players on BYU's 2024 roster, with 225 so far this season.
Julien had a career-high 11 blocks in the second match against No. 8 Pepperdine, including a season-high two solo blocks. Julien, who was named 2023 All-MPSF Honorable Mention, averaged 1.50 blocks per set and finished with 15 total blocks over the Waves. In Friday’s match, he contributed four blocks, including a solo block. After this weekend, Julien is now tied for 11th all-time in BYU men’s volleyball history for career solo blocks, with 22 total.
This is the second career MPSF weekly award for Benson, with both awards occuring in the 2024 season. Benson first won MPSF Offensive Player of the Week on Jan. 8 after two sweeps at home against No. 11 Ball State on Jan. 5-6, totaling 23 kills on a .541 hitting percentage and a career high .762 clip on Saturday's match.
This is Julien's first-ever weekly honor from the MPSF of his career, and BYU's fifth of the season.