UCLA Round-Up: Kiki Rice On The Rise, Women's Volleyball

A day of accolades for your Bruins.

Your UCLA Bruins continue to shine beyond the worlds of football (mired in controversy after it was revealed that the team would retain head coach Chip Kelly for some reason) and men's hoops (who just dropped two contests at the Maui Invitational, in Honolulu this year).

Allow us to elaborate.

Per UCLA Communications, 2023 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team point guard Kiki Rice has been named UCLA's Student-Athlete of the Week, spanning the period from November 20th-26th. The 5'11" sophomore's prolific production kept the Bruins undefeated through a run at the Cayman Islands Classic. Against the AP's sixth-seeded University of Connecticut, Rice notched career bests of 24 points on 9-of-15 field goal shooting and 11 boards, en route to a 78-67 victory.

After that, she scored eight points and dished out eight dimes in a 97-46 blowout over Niagara on Saturday. She probably would have notched another double-double, had the game been closer for longer. Rice beat out 6'2" senior women's volleyball outside/opposite hitter Iman Ndiaye and 6'3" freshman men's basketball guard Sebastian Mack for the honor, her first ever.

Ndiaye got further recognition as she wrapped up her season.

UCLA Communications reveals that Ndiaye and 6'5" redshirt senior middle blocker Anna Dodson both got some major All-Pac-12 love. Dodson made her third All-Pac-12 Team, while Ndiaye was an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention (she's made one All-Pac-12 Team herself, as a freshman). 

Dodson was one of the conference's top shot blockers. She ranked fourth in block solos with 23 and sixth in blocks per set (1.24) and total blocks (131). Ndiaye's 441 points, 3.74 points per set, 375 kills and 3.18 kills per set paced the Bruins.

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