Jan. 15, 2013

USC sophomore middle blocker Robert Feathers was named the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's National Player of the Week for his performances last week against No. 1 UC Irvine and No. 14 UC San Diego.

Feathers had a match-high 12 kills while hitting .526 and added 6 blocks to help the Trojans upset top-ranked and defending NCAA champion UC Irvine on the road, 25-21, 25-23, 27-25, in a rematch of last season's NCAA Championship match. The win came one night after the Trojans were swept in their season opener at No. 14 UC San Diego, a match in which Feathers had 7 kills while hitting .462 and he added 5 digs.

It is the 14th time in history that a Trojan has been recognized as the AVCA National Player of the Week.

The 6-8 Feathers was the National Blocker of the Year in 2012 when led the nation as a freshman in blocking average (1.60), recording a team-best 154 blocks (both were USC rally scoring era records). He added 101 kills while hitting .324.

This week, No. 7 USC begins 2013 home action by hosting No. 2 Stanford on Friday (Jan. 18) at 6 p.m. and then No. 15 Pacific on Sunday (Jan. 20) at 3 p.m., with both Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches in the Galen Center. The Stanford match will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks. Note the time change of the Pacific match from the previously-announced 5 p.m.