Dillon Klein Earns Second AVCA National Player of the Week Honor

LOS ANGELES – USC men's volleyball junior outside hitter Dillon Klein (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Loyola HS) was named the AVCA's National Player of the Week for the second time this season on Tuesday, March 18.

While the award is Klein's second-career honor, it makes him the first player to win multiple awards this season. He is also the first USC player to be selected for the national weekly award more than once in his career since Tony Ciarelli (four times from 2010-12). Klein joins Ciarelli (4), Murphy Troy (3), Brooks Billings (3), and Eli Fairfield (2) and becomes the fifth Trojan to have won national player of the week honors multiple times. Klein (2025) and Ciarelli (2011) are the only two Trojans to have won more than once in the same season.

It is the 22nd all-time award won by a Trojan and the fifth under 10th-year head coach Jeff Nygaard.

Klein was named the MPSF's Offensive Player of the Week yesterday (March 17) for his fifth-career conference weekly honor. It was his third this season—one in which he also owns a Defensive Player of the Week award (Jan. 27).

Klein was named the Outrigger Invitational's Most Outstanding Player after guiding the Trojans to three wins over ranked opponents including a road victory against No. 3 Hawai'i to claim the tournament crown. He hit .446 and averaged 4.70 kps and 5.60 pps in the wins. Against the Rainbow Warriors, Klein had 21 kills on 34 swings with just one error to hit .588. He also served four aces, picked up 10 digs, and had eight blocks in the three contests. Klein reached double-digit kills for the 14th time this season and for the 55th time in his career.

USC won the Outrigger Invitational over the weekend with 3-0 sweeps over No. 19 Penn State and No. 12 Ball State, and a four-set win over third-ranked Hawai'i. It was the Trojans' first win over UH since 2016 and extended USC's win streak to seven contests. Klein, freshman MB Parker Tomkinson, and redshirt Sr. OPP Jack Deuchar were each named to the all-tournament team with Klein receiving Most Outstanding Player honors. The Trojans moved up to No. 3 in the AVCA coaches' poll for the team's highest mark since it was No. 3 on Feb. 16, 2015.

The Trojans do not play this week but are back in action as host to Grand Canyon, March 28 and 29 at Galen Center. The Friday-night meeting is set for 7 p.m. PT and the rematch is at 5 p.m. on Saturday night. Both matches will be shown live on Big Ten Plus (B1G+).

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Instagram, X, and Facebook.

Players Mentioned

Jack Deuchar

Dillon Klein

Parker Tomkinson