University of California, Merced – Steele and Brill Earn Cal Pac Weekly Honors

MERCED, Calif. – After a perfect end to the regular season and a postseason clinching win on Sunday, seniors Ryan Steele and Zach Brill of the University of California, Merced men’s volleyball team were announced as California Pacific Conference Players of the Week.

Ryan Steele was named the Cal Pac Setter of the Week for the third time this year, while Zach Brill was tabbed the Cal Pac Defensive Player of the Week.

The duo led the Bobcats to wins over University of Saint Katherine and Simpson University. Overall, the Bobcats went 3-0 on the week but Steele and Brill were inactive for the match at Pacific Union College.

Steele has now racked up a school-record seven Cal Pac weekly honors over his career. He earned two in 2020, two in 2021 and three here in his final campaign sporting the UC Merced uniform.

Steele wins his latest award after averaging better than 12 assists, 1.5 digs, and a kill per set on the week. Steele, who quarterbacked the Bobcats offense to a .300 success rate in both matches, also had four blocks and two service aces.

The Sacramento, Calif., native registered a three-set career-high 39 assists in the sweep at Saint Katherine. On Senior Day and a five-set win over Simpson, Steele neared the program’s single-match record with 59 assists and notched a double-double with ten digs. Stuffing the stat sheet, Steele also went for five kills and tied his season-high with four blocks. Two of his blocks were solo.

Brill’s Cal Pac weekly honor is his first of the season and third of his career and it comes after averaging 2.8 digs per set in the undefeated week. 

The senior libero tied his three-set season-high with nine digs in the sweep at Saint Katherine. He also delivered a service ace. He racked up a team-high 13 digs on Senior Day in the five-set win against Simpson. Brill’s defensive efforts helped limit both opponents under a .230 hitting percentage. 

Both Steele and Brill hold all-time program records. Steele is the program’s all-time leader and is second in Cal Pac history with 2,965 career assists. Steele also leads the program with 73 service aces and is tied for first with 46 solo blocks. Brill tops all Bobcats and is second in Cal Pac history with 619 career digs. 

UC Merced men’s volleyball continues their season on Friday, April 1 as the #3 seed in the California Pacific Conference Championships. The Bobcats will play second-seeded Westcliff University at the USK Sports Complex in San…