Dodson Named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week

LOS ANGELES – Redshirt senior middle blocker Anna Dodson on the UCLA women’s volleyball team was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week, it was announced by the conference office Monday afternoon.
 
This is Dodson’s first weekly honor of her career and UCLA’s first since Nov. 1, 2021.
 
Dodson led all Pac-12 middle blockers with 37.5 points last weekend, totaling 19.5 in the Bruins’ (16-10, 8-8) upset over then-No. 9 Washington State and 18.0 in their victory over Washington. Defensively, Dodson swatted 11 blocks with five against the Cougars and a team-high six versus the Huskies.
 
Dodson’s all-around performance last Friday helped UCLA to its first road win against a top-10 opponent since 2016. She recorded a career-high 17 kills at an efficient .577 hitting percentage. Two days later at Washington, Dodson put forth another plus-.500 performance with 13 kills for .545. She had just three errors on a combined 48 swings in the two victories. Dodson has now recorded at least 10 kills for a .400 hitting percentage or better seven times this season.
 
Dodson tallied a crucial kill in UCLA’s fifth-set comeback at Washington State to erase the Cougars’ first match point and even the score at 14-all. The middle blocker was also a serving threat, matching a career high with two service aces at Washington.
 
UCLA has won five out of its last six matches, and with its two wins last week, reached a .500 winning percentage in conference play for the first time this season. In that stretch, Dodson has averaged a .471 hitting percentage (55-7-102) and 1.50 blocks per set (1 BS, 32 BA).
 
The Fort Collins, Colo. native ranks third in the Pac-12 in total blocks (121) and hitting percentage (.388). Dodson is in line to lead UCLA in total blocks for a third consecutive season, which would mark the first time a Bruin accomplished that feat since Zoë Nightingale who paced UCLA across the 2012-14 campaigns.