PROVO, Utah — Junior outside hitter Luke Benson of the No. 7 BYU men's volleyball team was named AVCA National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Player of the Week, the association announced Tuesday morning.
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 a .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 currently holds the most kills and points out of all players on BYU's 2024 roster, with 225 kills and 257.5 points.
Benson is one of three players from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation to win the award in 2024, with Will Rottman of Stanford and Cooper Robinson of UCLA previously winning this season.
This is the first time a Cougar has been honored by the AVCA for a player of the week in over three years, with the last AVCA National Player of the Week title being given to BYU's four-time All-American Gabi Garcia Fernandez on Feb. 9, 2021 when the Cougars were ranked No. 1 in the country. This is also Benson's first-ever national career award.
Overall, BYU has recieved this national weekly award 35 times times now, dating back to 1994.
See the AVCA's full announcement about Benson here.
Luke Benson of @byumvolleyball is the AVCA Men’s National Collegiate Player of the Week. The junior led BYU to 2 five-set victories at No. 8 Pepperdine with 47 kills on .412 hitting, including a career-best 26 kills Saturday.
— AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) March 26, 2024
Release: https://t.co/tmvMnKsOuk#WeAreAVCA #NCAAMVB pic.twitter.com/YdjaMFx5Qw