Mikayla Butzke of the Dos Pueblos girls volleyball team and Rodney Michael of UCSB men’s soccer were honored as the Athletes of the Week at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon.
Butzke, a junior setter, recorded double-doubles in assists and digs in sweeps over Lompoc and Santa Barbara High in Channel League play. She also had a solid two days of playing at the Hard Driven Challenge Tournament in Clovis over the weekend.
In the league matches, she dished out 30 assists and had 14 digs against Lompoc and followed that with a 37-assist, 13-dig performance against Santa Barbara.
“She’s consistently getting double-doubles for us,” said coach Megan O’Carroll.
Michael, a fleet-footed sophomore forward, scored the game-tying goal and and added a second score for the Gauchos in a 3-1 victory over UCLA at Harder Stadium last Saturday. It was only the sixth victory all-time against the Bruins.
His first goal was a beauty. He trapped a long ball out of the air on the run, continued with a couple of dribbles and beat the UCLA goalkeeper with a shot to the far post.
On his second goal — the Gauchos’ third in a six-minute span — he redirected a Faouzi Taieb header in the box off a Thibault Candia corner kick.
The honorable mention choices for males include Trevor Ricci (San Marcos water polo), Angus Goodner (Dos Pueblos water polo) and Jack Deardorff (Cate football).
The other female candidates considered for the award include Emma Fraser (SBCC water polo) and Gigi Ruddins (UCSB volleyball).
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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