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Off the Block announced on Monday the recipients of the National Position Player of the Week Awards and the National Freshman of the Week.
The National Position Player of the Week Awards recognize the libero, middle attacker, opposite, outside attacker and setter who had the best performances in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the week. In addition, the National Player of the Week is presented to the top freshman from the week in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball.
The Off the Block staff determines each award recipient. The winners are announced every week during the regular season on the Off the Block website, offtheblockblog.com.
While there are other weekly national awards in college men’s volleyball, these are the only position-based and freshman-based weekly awards.
Off the Block at the end of the season presents the Lloy Ball Award to the nation’s top setter, Bryan Ivie Award to the nation’s top opposite, the Karch Kiraly Award to the nation’s top outside attacker, the Ryan Millar Award to the nation’s top middle attacker and the Erik Shoji Award to the nation’s top libero. It also presents the Freshmen All-American Team at the end of the regular season.
Off the Block is a national award winning website that launched in 2011 and is the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage.
Off the Block Weekly National Award recipients
National Setter of the Week: Kevin Kauling, Lewis
National Opposite of the Week: Randy DeWeese, UC Santa Barbara
National Outside Attacker of the Week: Joshua Kim, King
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Keenan Sanders, UC Santa Barbara
National Libero of the Week: Noah Melendez, King
National Freshman of the Week: Merrick McHenry, UCLA
National Setter of the Week: Kevin Kauling, Lewis
Kauling had 42 assists and guided the offense to a .339 attack percentage while defensively adding nine digs as No. 5/5 Lewis swept Ball State on Friday. The setter also had two aces and helped the offense hit .407 in a three-game victory versus Ball State on Saturday to complete the two-match series sweep.
National Opposite of the Week: Randy DeWeese, UC Santa Barbara
DeWeese finished with a combined 32 kills on a .433 attack percentage in a doubleheader sweep of No. 11/10 UC Irvine on Sunday. He also had a combined 27 kills and 12 digs in a two-match series sweep against No. 13/10 UC San Diego.
National Outside Attacker of the Week: Joshua Kim, King
Kim set a single-match program record with 36 kills and had a .433 attack percentage as King defeated first-place Mount Olive in five games on Friday. With this performance, Kim became the third player in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball since 2017 to have more than 35 kills in a match.
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Keenan Sanders, UC Santa Barbara
Sanders had a combined 28 kills and zero errors on a .757 attack percentage along with eight blocks as No. 4/3 UC Santa Barbara swept a two-match series against No. 13/10 UC San Diego. The middle attacker also had nine kills and zero errors on .692 attack percentage and added four blocks in a four-game victory to complete a doubleheader sweep of No. 11/10 UC Irvine on Sunday.
National Libero of the Week: Noah Melendez, King
Melendez tied a single-match program record with 23 digs in a five-game conference victory against Mount Olive on Saturday. The libero also had a match-high 20 digs in a four-game loss to Barton on Friday.
National Freshman of the Week: Merrick McHenry, UCLA
McHenry had a combined 30 kills and one error on a .520 attack percentage along with nine blocks in a two-match series sweep against Stanford, including having a match-high 17 kills in the series opener on Friday. The middle attacker also had 10 kills and zero errors while hitting .833 in a sweep versus Concordia-Irvine on Tuesday