LOGAN, Utah – Utah State men's basketball junior Mason Falslev and volleyball sophomore Kaylie Kofe were named the Male and Female Athlete of the Year, respectively, at the annual Robins Awards, recognizing the best of Utah State University.
Falslev helped lead Utah State to one of its best seasons in program history as the Aggies won both the outright Mountain West regular season title and the Mountain West Tournament title, before defeating Villanova in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament to advance to the second round for the second time in the past three years. Falslev was named the league's player of the year and earned spots on the first team and all-defensive team. He averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game, and ranked in the top 10 in the league in points, assists, steals, assist/turnover ratio, field goal percentage, free throws made and defensive rebounds. He scored in double figures 30 times, scored 20-plus points 10 times and led the team's scoring efforts 13 times. Additionally, Falslev was named to the CSC Academic All-District Team.
Other nominees for Male Athlete of the Year included tennis senior Jean-Baptiste Badon, football senior Bryson Barnes, track & field senior Logan Hammer, golf sophomore Chase Goetschel, and cross country sophomore Garrett Woodhouse.
Kofe put together one of the best individual seasons in Utah State volleyball history, becoming the program's first-ever conference player of the year and earning AVCA All-American honorable mention, only the 12th Aggie to earn All-American honors and the first since 2010. Kofe engineered the Aggie offense to a program-record .274 hitting percentage while helping USU to an undefeated conference season, winning the Mountain West regular season and tournament titles before upsetting seventh-seeded Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament. Kofe ranked third in the nation with 11.08 assists per set and was the only player in the country with three matches posting over 60 assists. Her 1,330 total assists last season ranks fifth all-time at USU while she already sits in eighth for career assists at Utah State with 2,290.
Other nominees for Female Athlete of the Year included soccer senior Kaylie Chambers, softball senior Kaylee Erickson, basketball senior Karyn Sanford, cross country junior Natalie Swain, gymnastics junior Mya Witte, track & field sophomore Mashayle Jones, and tennis freshman Terezia Mlkva.
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