High Five for Karsta Lowe
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SAN FRANCISCO - Senior Karsta Lowe made more history on Monday when she was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for the fifth time this season. The five weekly awards are the most in a single season at UCLA, breaking the tie with Natalie Williams, who had four conference POW awards in 1990.
Lowe became the first Bruin ever to earn Player of the Week accolades in back-to-back weeks on Sept. 8 and 15, also receiving the award on Sept. 29 and Oct. 20. It is the seventh time in her career that Lowe has been bestowed a weekly honor by the Pac-12. She was named Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 3, 2012 and Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 2, 2013.
The seven awards are tied for the fourth most in Pac-12 history, trailing only Stanford's Logan Tom and Washington's Krista Vansant (nine) and Williams' eight. Stanford's Alix Klineman and Washington's Christal Morrison each had seven. Lowe's five honors are the most since Tom had that total in 2001.
It is Lowe's sixth weekly accolade of the year, as she was named Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week on Oct. 21, the seventh Bruin ever to earn that award. The Bruins have garnered six Pac-12 weekly honors this season. Reily Buechler was named conference Freshman of the Week on Oct. 20.
Lowe continued her outstanding all-around season last weekend in Oregon, recording a pair of matches with at least 20 kills, coming up two digs shy of a pair of double-doubles and adding five aces.
In the two matches, Lowe had 42 kills (6.00 per set) and 18 digs (2.57 per set) with five aces and five blocks, posting a .260 hitting percentage.
Lowe opened the week with 22 kills, eight digs, two aces and two blocks at #14 Oregon on Friday. After being held in check with three kills in the opener, but still contributing three digs and two aces, Lowe was on fire in the next two sets. She had seven kills, two digs and a block in the second, adding 12 kills, three digs and a block in the third.
On Saturday at Oregon State, Lowe surpassed the 20-kill mark for the 17th time this season, hitting the number on the nose. She hit .286 and added three aces and three blocks to go with 10 digs for her team-leading sixth double-double of the year. Lowe led or tied the Bruins in kills in each of the first three sets. She had five kills, three digs and an ace in the first, four kills and two digs in the second and six kills, three blocks, two digs and one ace in the third. Lowe was one off the team lead in the fourth, tallying five kills, three digs and an ace.
Lowe continues to lead the nation with 5.96 kills per set and 6.60 points per set, adding a team-best 29 aces. She also has 1.96 digs per set, 0.64 blocks per set and a .314 hitting percentage.
The Bruins, who maintained their spot at 17th in this week's AVCA Coaches poll, travel to #22 Arizona State on Wednesday at 3 p.m. PT. The match will be live streamed on UCLABruins.com.