Hagglund, Bricio earn honors


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Unsurprisingly, the No. 4 USC women’s volleyball team’s convincing four-set upset of then-No. 1 Stanford this past Thursday earned the Women of Troy (26-4, 14-4) considerable conference attention.

Climbing the ladder · Junior libero Natalie Hagglund now places third all-time on USC women’s volleyball’s career digs list. – Austin Vogel | Daily Trojan

For the third time this season, junior All-American libero Natalie Hagglund was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week, while freshman outside hitter Samantha Bricio claimed her fifth Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honor. Bricio’s fifth weekly award paces all Pac-12 freshmen.

Hagglund, whose 596 digs in 2011 placed her third on USC’s all-time single-season record list, registered a career-high 44 digs against Stanford — also more digs than any Pac-12 player has notched in 2012. With 516 digs already this season, Hagglund appears poised to surpass last season’s mark, assuming the Women of Troy make a deep postseason run.

The Pac-12 First Team libero also added 19 digs against California to lead the Women of Troy to their fifth consecutive victory, increasing her career digs total to 1,609, which places her third all-time at USC.

Freshman sensation Bricio led all scorers against both Stanford and Cal and notched her 10th double-double of the season versus Stanford, delivering 19 kills and adding 22 digs. Against the Golden Bears, she continued to sizzle with 18 kills and two aces.

Bricio now ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in kills per set (4.12) and leads the conference in service aces per set (.34).

The Women of Troy will travel to Corvallis, Ore. on Tuesday to face Oregon State (14-16, 4-14) in an 8 p.m. match before finishing the season against No. 7 UCLA on Friday.

Both matches will air on the Pac-12 Networks.