Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (April 6, 2026) – Brannen Almarales was named College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after his ninth double-double of the season on Saturday. Almarales set a new single-match record for kills (35) and digs (27) in Saturday's loss to Loras College, with the latter mark helping him land his first career weekly award.
Almarales paced the league in multiple categories this past week, including kills per set (5.38) and digs per set (4.88).
Despite a pair of losses this week for the men's volleyball team, Almarales shone with a team-leading 8 kills and 12 digs against No. 4 Carthage on Wednesday and his record-setting performance against No. 10 Loras College on Saturday. He also contributed three blocks in Wednesday's match and a block on Saturday against Loras.
On the season, Almarales is 28th in Division III and third in the conference in digs per set (2.70). He also ranks 12th in the country in attacks per set (9.56), 186th in blocks per set (0.591), 25th in kills per set (3.65) and 32nd in points per set (4.05).
Almarales led the conference through the regular season with 321, the second-most by a Cardinal in program history. His 238 digs on the season rank third in the CCIW and second in program history behind his teammate Jonathan Brown, who has the current single-season record with his 268 dig campaign.
Almarales and the Cardinals will look to extend their season on Wednesday when they hit the road to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to take on the top-seeded and No. 4 team in the country, Carthage College Firebirds, in the CCIW Tournament Semifinals at 7 p.m. inside Tarble Arena.
