LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego's Emily McDaniel has been named the Big West Conference Women's Volleyball Freshman of the Week as the league announced its awards Monday.

A middle blocker, McDaniel turned in two outstanding performances in conference matches this past week.

At Long Beach State Friday, McDaniel posted career- and team-highs with 15 kills and 19 points. She also contributed a career- and match-high seven blocks and hit a team-best .387 with the 15 kills and just three errors in 31 attack attempts.

In a 3-1 win against Cal State Fullerton the next night at RIMAC Arena, McDaniel came away with 14 kills and 18 points, both match-highs again. She hit a match-best .379 (14-3-29) hitting percentage and also added three blocks, three digs, and two aces.

McDaniel, who was also named the UCSDTritons.com Athlete of the Week today, is the second Triton to win a weekly award from the Big West this season as junior libero Naya Dong was tabbed the Defensive Player of the Week on September 13.

UC San Diego plays its next two matches on the road. The Tritons travel to the Central Coast to take on Cal Poly on Friday, October 22 before heading to Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday, October 23. Both Big West matches start at 7 p.m.

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QUOTABLES FROM EMILY MCDANIEL



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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.