SAN FRANCISCO -- Washington State's Claire Martin was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2 as announced by the Pac-12 Conference office Monday. The senior became the first Cougar to earn the award in 2018 and the first to earn the honor since Taylor Mims Nov. 14, 2016. The weekly award was the second career honor for Martin after earning the defensive award as a sophomore September 26, 2016.

Over the weekend, Martin led the Cougars to a pair of 3-1 victories at No. 17 Northern Iowa to improve to 4-0 on the new season. Martin's massive presence at the net shutdown the Panthers throughout the weekend as UNI hit just .198 combined in two matches . Friday night, Martin led a Cougar blocking attack that came up with 17.0 total blocks, the most since posting 19.0 against Arizona State, Nov 11, 2016. Getting in on more than half the blocks herself, Martin finished the opening match of the weekend with 10 blocks as she moved into No. 2 all-time in career block assists with 403. Saturday, Martin was back to her old tricks once again as she came up with four of the Cougars' 10.0 blocks. In addition, Martin got her offense going in the final match of the week as she tallied a season-best 10 kills to finish off the perfect weekend.

In all, Martin averaged 1.75 blocks per set to lead the Cougars' defensive efforts. Offensively, the senior posted 1.62 kills per set (13 total kills) to go along with two digs.

The Cougars and Martin play at home for the first time in 2018, Friday, Sept. 7 when they host McNeese State at noon to kick off the Cougar Challenge.