Bricio wins record sixth Pac-12 weekly award


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USC women’s volleyball senior outside hitter Samantha Bricio made history on Monday by becoming the first student-athlete in Pac-12 history to earn six weekly awards in one season. The 6-foot-2 outside hitter was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for her play during Nov. 2-8 after averaging 7.36 points per set and leading the No. 2-ranked Women of Troy to a pair of home victories against Colorado and Utah.

The Guadalajara, Mexico, native has now won the award six times out of the 11 weeks of play this season. Furthermore, this is the ninth time in her career to win a weekly award, tying Logan Tom (Stanford, 1999-2002) for second-most    all-time in conference history for career selections.

Over the weekend, Bricio put up big numbers against the Mountain schools to propel her team to victory. She compiled 42 kills (6.00 kps) with just seven total errors for a .422 hitting percentage, while also adding seven service aces (1.00 saps), five blocks (0.71 bps) and 14 digs (2.00 dps). On Friday against Colorado, Bricio had 21 kills and a whopping six aces, marking the 18th time in her career that she has served at least five or more aces in a single match. Two days later, she followed that up with another 21-kill performance against Utah on a stellar .450 hitting clip. Overall, Bricio recorded 51.5 points on the weekend and remains as the nation’s top point scorer with 6.32 points per set.

Already the leading candidate for National Player of the Year, Bricio has also moved up USC’s career record books this season. She took over the top spot in USC history for points scored (2,318.5) two weeks ago in a match against Washington State, and currently sits in second place for career kills behind Alex Jupiter (1,918 kills; 2008-11). Bricio needs just 22 kills to surpass Jupiter and will more than likely become USC’s all-time leader by the end of this week. In addition, she will move into 10th place in Pac-12 history if she can do that when the Oregon schools come to town starting this Wednesday.

Bricio and the No. 2-ranked Women of Troy have a 25-1 record (13-1 Pac-12) and will face off against Oregon and Oregon State back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Both matches are set for 7:30 p.m. at the Galen Center.