University of California, Merced – Lingenfelter Named Cal Pac Defensive Player of the Week

MERCED, Calif. – University of California, Merced men’s volleyball middle blocker Jozef Lingenfelter was named the California Pacific Conference Defensive Player of the Week, as announced by the league office Monday evening.

Lingenfelter is Cal Pac’s first men’s volleyball defensive award winner in the 2023 campaign. The weekly award is the first in the sophomore’s career.

Lingenfelter led the Bobcats with five service aces, three blocks, and a .571 (10/2/14) hitting percentage against a trio of GSAC opponents this past week. He was also credited with nine digs, the third most on the Bobcats roster.

He started his week by scoring the Bobcats first point with a kill in the home opener against Hope International University on January 31. He followed by ripping across three services, all in the opening set. He added another kill, two blocks, and four digs as the night went on. One of Lingenfelter’s two blocks was solo.

On the road trip, he tallied a service ace and a block against #11 The Master’s University. The following night, he recorded a career-high five digs against fourth-ranked Vanguard University. The Irvine, Calif., native added eight kills and just two errors in the road games combined.

Lingenfelter enters the week as one of just two players on the West Coast with at least five service aces and four solo blocks.

UC Merced Athletics has now combined for a league-best 20 Cal Pac Player of the Week awards across all sports in the 2022-23 athletics year.

Looking ahead, UC Merced will begin play at the UJ Invitational on Friday, February 10 at 8:00am PST against Dordt University.