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Taylor Sander is being recognized for his memorable outing in dethroning former No. 1 UC Irvine.
The BYU junior was named the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week, after he helped his now-No. 1 Cougars defeat Irvine and former-No. 13 UC San Diego.
Sander, a two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American outside hitter, led the Cougars (5-1, 4-0) in a 3-1 win over defending national champion UC Irvine as well as BYU's 3-0 sweep over UCSD. He led the team in kills in each outing with 16 and 11, respectively. Sander also had eight digs and three blocks in BYU's win against UCI.
This is the 20th time in BYU history that a Cougar has garnered Sports Imports/Player of the Week honors, and the second for Sander after earning on the honors on Jan. 17, 2012.
The Cougars are currently the unanimous No. 1 team in the country following their weekend wins, receiving all 16 first-place votes. Pepperdine University received the No. 2 nod, followed by No. 3 Irvine. Stanford and UCLA rounded out the top five with a fourth-place tie.
The Cougars head into a bye weekend before resuming play on Feb. 1, when they welcome No. 7 Long Beach State to Provo. BYU will face No. 9 Cal Northridge the following day at the Smith Fieldhouse. Both matches are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.