Just five weekends of play into his first season on the court with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies' men's volleyball program, Swift Current's Dylan Mortensen has been named the Huskies' Male Athlete of the Week. 

"It's obviously a really big honour for me, I'm a younger member of the team and to get that is pretty special to me," Mortensen said after practice Tuesday evening. "I just feel like it's increasing my level of respect throughout the team."

The 6'6" outside hitter recorded 25 kills, 17 digs, and two service aces over two games in a weekend sweep of the Mount Royal Cougars this past Friday and Saturday.

The previously-winless Huskies clinched their first win of the season in Friday's match, a four-set victory (25-23, 21-25, 27-25, 25-18) at home against the Cougars. Mortensen had 16 of his kills and 12 of his digs in the first night of the weekend home stand - those numbers led all players.

The former Swift Current Comp Colt volleyball player and his Huskies squad needed one less set on Saturday at the PAC in Saskatoon, as they swept the visiting Calgary-based side in three sets (25-17, 25-23, 25-18). Mortensen had nine kills and a trio of digs to end the weekend and start a win-streak of sorts in an historically competitive CanadaWest conference.

"It means a lot to us obviously, we hadn't found our sweet spot yet throughout the season," the Business student admitted, while noting the big weekend was a way to get momentum building. "To get a couple of wins and get that award, it definitely is a good sign for the team and myself."

The memorable weekend for Mortensen brings his season totals to a team-leading 283 attacks, 104 kills - which trails the team lead by just one, 40 digs, and six service aces. He also is second on the team with 2.89 kills/set, and has a .081 hitting percentage on the year.

The sizable workload for the rookie comes after sitting out the 2016-17 U of S volleyball season as a red-shirt - something that allowed growth in his game to adapt to the heightened level of volleyball.

"For sure, I totally believe that red-shirt year was huge coming out of high school," Mortensen explained. "I never really played a high level of volleyball - to be able to just practice and really hone in on my skills, be the best that I can be, and just focus on getting better meant a lot to my success."

The Huskies (2-8) wrap up the first half of the 2017-18 regular season before a lengthy break for both finals and Christmas, as they travel to Winnipeg for games Friday and Saturday against the University of Manitoba Bisons (4-6).

"It's gone by super fast, it's been a lot of fun, and it's definitely a really competitive league, and I look forward to be playing in it for a while," said Mortensen, who added how he hopes to continue to improve his game - not just this season, but also for the duration of his five years of eligibility.

"I just want to be able to stay healthy for sure, and keep building relationships with my teammates so we can get that team cohesiveness that every coach looks for, become a stronger player, and keep practicing my skills to be the best that I can be at my position."

Listen to the whole interview with Dylan Mortensen here: