Personal
Born in Whittier, Calif. ... parents are Margaret and Robert Neilson ... the youngest of five children with four sisters ... served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Croatia ... sister Kari played at BYU in the mid 1990s ... works at volleyball camps over the summer ... enjoys all sports including tennis, basketball and homerun derby ... enjoys reading and outdoor activities including camping and snow boarding ... neuroscience major.
Before BYU
Earned three letters at Pacific Palisades Charter in California ... Palisades scholar athlete of the year in 1999 ... three-time first-team all-CIF city selection ... 1998 player of the year CIF city selection ... 1999 co-player of the year CIF city selection ... 1999 Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 selection ... also lettered in basketball ... played for Team LA club under Alvin Lamarr and LAAC club team under Chris McGee ... LAAC team won gold medal at 1997 Junior Olympics ... Junior Olympic All-American in 1997 ... Team LA won bronze medal at 1999 Junior Olympics.
Stats
Career Match Highs
Kills: 7 vs. Penn State, 1/6/05
Attempts: 12 vs. Penn State, 1/6/05
Hitting Percentage: 1.000 (three times)
Digs: 10 vs. CS Northrdige, 1/14/06
Block Assists: 8 vs. Hawai'i, 3/19/05
Block Solos: 2 (six times)
Total Blocks: 9 vs. Hawai'i, 3/19/05
Service Aces: 3 at UC Santa Barbara, 1/21/05
Assists: 71 at UC Irvine, 3/10/06
| Year | MP | GP | K | K/G | E | TA | PCT | A | SA | SE | RE | D | BS | BA | TB | B/G | BE | BHE |
| 2003 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2004^ | 32 | 104 | 7 | 0.07 | 1 | 11 | 0.545 | 76 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0.02 | 2 | 1 |
| 2005 | 30 | 111 | 85 | 0.77 | 31 | 159 | 0.340 | 1467 | 14 | 74 | 1 | 137 | 19 | 79 | 98 | 0.88 | 9 | 24 |
| 2006 | 25 | 95 | 47 | 0.49 | 17 | 84 | 0.357 | 1245 | 3 | 25 | 0 | 148 | 9 | 52 | 61 | 0.64 | 6 | 7 |
Competed in four games on the season ... registered two assists and one dig.
A member of the 2004 National Championship team ... back-up setter to Carlos Moreno ... recorded 41 assists in a 3-0 win against Ohio State on Jan. 23 ... competed in 104 games ... rotated in as a serving specialist ... recorded seven kills in 11 attempts on the season ... started the Lewis match as setter, playing in the first game ... rotated in against George Mason to record 20 assists ... registered two aces, 27 digs, 76 assists and two blocks on the season ... recorded five kills and six digs against Ohio State.
Earned All-MPSF Honorable Mention status ... named Academic All-MPSF ... was named the USA Today/AVCA National Player of the Week for his play against Hawai`i, March 18 and 19 ... started every match and played in all 111 games ... recorded 1,467 assists, the sixth most in BYU history and fourth most during the rally-scoring era ... his 19 block solos rank fifth all-time at BYU for most in one season ... recorded a career-high 68 assists against Penn State, Jan. 6 and against UC Santa Barbara, April 23 ... had 37 assists, eight digs and seven blocks in a three-game victory over Hawai`i, March 19 ... set career highs in blocks in back-to-back matches against Hawai`i, March 18 and 19 with seven the first night and nine the next ... registered a career-high nine digs in back-to-back matches against Hawai`i, Jan. 7 and Cal Baptist, Jan. 14 ... hit .340 while recording 85 kills ... had 137 digs and 98 blocks on the season for averages of 1.23 and 0.88.
Earned honorable mention All-MPSF honors ... started and played in 25 matches and appeared in 95 games ... finished the season with 1,245 assists, the fifth-highest BYU rallying scoring single-season total ... ranked fifth in the MPSF, averaging 13.35 assists per game in league play ... was eigth in the nation in assists, averaging 13.11 assists per game ... played in 314 career games, seventh most in BYU history ... finished the season with with 148 digs, second on the team, and 61 blocks ... recorded 65 assists against Cal State Northridge, Jan. 14 ... set a career high with 10 digs versus Cal State Northridge, Jan. 14 ... had 66 assists and five kills while setting BYU to a .443 hitting percentage against UC Santa Barbara, Jan. 20 ... had 54 assists, eight digs and five blocks in 3-1 win over UCLA, Jan. 26 ... had 110 assists in two matches against Pepperdine ... set BYU to .385 hitting percentage in 3-2 win over USC, Feb. 11 ... also had 56 assists, four kills and hit 1.000 in 3-2 win over USC ... had 38 assists and set BYU to a .537 hitting percentage against Stanford, March 3 ... set BYU to a .762 hitting percentage in game one against Stanford, March 4 ... had a career-high 71 assists and eight digs against UC Irvine, March 10 ... recorded 57 assists, nine digs and six blocks versus UC Irvine, March 11 ... averaged 16.71 assists and set team to a .385 hitting percentage in two wins over Pacific ... had four blocks and nine digs against Long Beach, April 6 ... totaled 17 digs in two regular season matches against Long Beach State.