Irvine—This afternoon the Big West Conference announced that UC Riverside outside hitter Fabiana Rosas was selected as Big West Player of the Week and that libero/defensive specialist Maddie Hubbell received the Big West Defensive Player of the Week award.

This week's occurrence marks the first time two Highlanders have received an award from the conference in the history of the UC Riverside Volleyball's 15-year membership in the Big West.

Fabiana Rosas, a senior from Hacienda Heights, CA/Los Altos HS produced one of top all-around performances in the country's opening weekend matches. Rosas averaged 14.10 attacks per set, which was tops in the nation, while her 5.70 kills per set and 6.07 points per set were second and fourth in the NCAA. She also chipped in on the defensive side of the net, averaging 11.7 digs per match.

She earned a spot on the Molten Classic All-Tournament Team after leading the Highlanders to a 2-1 record in the Cal Molten Classic. UCR knocked off Southern Utah twice and fell just short of upsetting tournament host Cal in a five-set thriller.
 
Rosas recorded a match-high 26 kills and had 18 digs in UCR's 3-1 victory over Southern Utah. Rosas logged 15 kills and nine digs through two sets against Cal as the Highlanders took each of the first two sets by a score of 25-20 to stake UCR to a 2-0 lead in the match. With the score knotted at 10 apiece in the third set, Rosas exited the match with an injury. 

This week's award is the first Player of the Week honor of her career and the first for UCR since Helena Peric was selected in November of 2015.

View the list of all-time honorees

This week's Defensive Player of the Week award is the third of Maddie Hubbell's career. The Bakersfield, CA native out of Liberty High School averaged 5.75 digs per set over three matches in the Cal Molten Classic, a figure which currently ranks 13th in the NCAA.

The senior had 69 total digs, 13 assists and three service aces to help the Highlanders finish 2-1 in the tournament. She had 17 digs in a sweep of Southern Utah, and 30 in a four-set victory over the Thunderbirds.

Hubbell dug up 22 attempts in a five-set loss against the host Golden Bears in the tournament finale. She was also selected to the Molten Classic All-Tournament Team.

view Big West press release

The Highlanders head back up to the Bay Area this weekend to play in the Saint Mary's Tournament September 2-3.