Championship round field set for Off the Block National Player of Month

Six players based on your votes have an opportunity to win a college men’s volleyball national award for their outstanding performances in January.

Stanford’s Paul Bischoff, UC Santa Barbara’s Hayden Boehle, Lincoln Memorial’s Evan Cory, Lewis’ TJ Murray and Michael Simmons and Pepperdine’s David Wieczorek all advanced to the championship round of the Off the Block National Player of the Month.

The Off the Block National Player of the Month recognizes the best individual performances from NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball players during the month. In addition, it gives volleyball fans from around the world the chance to determine who was the best player through online voting on the Off the Block website.

The National Player of the Month is a two-round event with the opening round consisting of finalists being placed into one of five ballots based on their position. The five winners on the position ballots advanced to the championship round, along with the runner-up who received the most votes.

Bischoff, Boehle, Cory, Murray and Wieczorek all won their opening-round ballots to reach the finals, while Simmons received the most votes among the runner-ups on all the ballots.

Online voting for the championship round is underway, and the polls will close at 10 p.m. (CST) Sunday. The individual receiving the most votes will be the National Player of the Month for January.

While there are several weekly awards in college men’s volleyball, this is the only monthly national award presented in the sport.

Check out the finalists below for the National Player of the Month in January. Individuals can vote using at the poll below or by visiting offtheblockblog.com/playerofmonth.

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Paul Bischoff, Stanford
Bischoff ended the month leading the MPSF and fourth in the nation with a 10.70 assists per game average and guided the Stanford offense to the sixth-best attack percentage in the nation at .340. He also has at least five digs in six consecutive matches, including a season-high nine digs along with six kills in a four-game victory against Purdue Fort Wayne on Friday.

Hayden Boehle, UC Santa Barbara
Boehle was one of two players in the nation to have at least 100 digs in January. He also finished the month in the country’s top 10 with a 2.44 digs per game average and had double-digit digs in eight matches.

Evan Cory, Lincoln Memorial
Cory ended the month second in the nation with a 0.83 aces per game average and in the country’s top 15 averaging 3.92 kills per game. He also had double-digit kills in all but one of Lincoln Memorial’s matches in January, including a season-high 19 kills while hitting .607 in a sweep against Limestone at the Off the Block Grow the Game Challenge.

TJ Murray, Lewis
Murray is in the nation’s top 15 with both a 1.20 blocks per game average and a .458 attack percentage. He also had double-digit kills in two matches, including a season-high 11 kills while hitting .562 in a road match against UC Santa Barbara on Friday.

Michael Simmons, Lewis
Simmons is second in the MIVA and among the national leaders with a 2.41 digs per game average. Among his three double-digit dig performances in January featured a season-high 17 digs in a loss to Pepperdine on Jan. 19.

David Wieczorek, Pepperdine
Wieczorek ended the month in the nation’s top 15 with a 3.83 kills per game average and hit .332. The 2018 MPSF Player of the Year also had two matches with at least 20 kills, including a season-high 22 kills in a loss to UC Irvine on Sunday.