After playing three games last weekend, Long Beach State’s senior outside hitter Nele Barber was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s national Player of the Week.
The outside hitter became the 11th player in LBSU history to receive the honor and the first since outside hitter Bre Mackie in 2014.
“I didn’t expect that,” Barber said with a smile. “It’s pretty cool. It’s an honor. In general hearing ‘Oh yeah, [you’re the] national player of the week is pretty cool.”
Barber had an impressive stat line over the weekend that included a near-triple-double against the Duke Blue Devils. During that match, the senior posted a career high in blocks with nine, 19 kills and 14 digs.
LBSU women’s volleyball head coach Brian Gimmillaro noted that while the team played 18 sets, it was impressive that Barber was able to stay consistent.
“[There was] a lot of play this weekend,” Gimmillaro said. “Three of [our games] went five sets – which is a lot of play – so what you can take away from that is that she stayed good the whole time. The whole time she was able to physically do that and physically maintain a high level and she was able to focus for that long.”
In the 18 sets LBSU played, the senior had a .299 hitting percentage, 4.39 kills per set, 2.94 digs per set and 1.06 blocks per set.
“It was exhausting to have all those games,” Barber said. “[But] it was fun. We were 3-0 after the first three games, so it was just fun to play. We had a good weekend.”
When Barber started to feel winded, she just used communication to keep herself going and to maintain her high level of play throughout the weekend.
“I just kept screaming,” Barber said. “ [Told myself,] ‘Don’t think about being tired.’”
Keeping her focus and intensity played a huge factor in how the 49ers fared.
“The best thing a good player can have is consistency,” Barber said. “I stayed pretty consistent, so that was good. Obviously, I got tired for a bit but [I] just have to overcome it somehow.”