Heart Men’s Volleyball Players of the Week – March 13

As the Heart Men's Volleyball regular season continues, the conference announced its weekly Player of the Week awards on March 13.

Joao Friedrich of No. 3 nationally ranked Park University, earned his third Heart Attacker of the Week, while No. 12 ranked Mount Mercy's Rafael Vieyra and Tiago Almeida were selected the Heart Setter and Defender of the Week respectively.

Friedrich also won the award back on February 24 and January 30.

This past week, the Pirates captured the 2023 Heart Men's Volleyball regular season championship outright with wins over No. 8 William Penn and Graceland.

In the two matches, the Joinville, Brazil native had 35 total kills, averaging 4.38 kills per set and had an impressive 25 kills in the win over William Penn. Against Graceland he had an incredible 11 service aces, just one shy of the NAIA record for aces in a match.

Vieyra became the programs all-time leader in assists last week, as the Mustangs went 4-0. On the week he collected a total of 163 assists, averaging 10.19 assists per set.

He had 57 assists in the win over Jamestown and six kills. This is his second Heart Setter of the Week award of 2023.

Teammate Almeida had 53 total digs on the week, averaging 3.31 digs per set and had a team high 17 digs in the five-set win over No. 15 ranked Missouri Baptist.