Junior men's volleyball player Matt Proper has been named the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) Player of the Week, league officials announced yesterday. The honor is the first of Proper's career and the first this season for the sixth-ranked Nittany Lions (5-2).

Proper recorded a team- and career-high 22 kills in a crucial EIVA Tait Division four-game win against Rutgers-Newark on Jan. 28. Proper carried his largest offensive load of the season with 41 swings and an impressive .341 hitting percentage. Proper also posted two aces, two digs and four blocks.

The following night, in a four-game win against No. 12 Ohio State, Proper again rose the occasion, tying his career-best with 22 kills to hit .341 on 44 swings. He fell one dig shy of his season-high with eight and recorded four blocks. He again recorded the highest point total of the match with 25.5 points. For the weekend, Proper averaged 5.5 kills per game on .341 hitting with 0.38 service aces per game, 1.25 digs per game and 1.00 blocks per game for 51.5 total points, an average of 6.44 points per game.