The fans casted thousands of votes and Pepperdine setter Matt West is the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Player of the Month for March.
West received more than 750 votes to win the only college men’s volleyball national monthly award.
The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Player of the Month recognizes the best individual performances from NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball players during the month and gives fans from around the world the chance to determine who was the best player through online voting. Almost 2,500 votes were cast during the three-day voting period on the Off the Block website.
West guided Pepperdine’s offense to more than a .300 percentage in four matches in March and had at least 50 assists five times, including a season-high 68 assists in a victory against No. 6 BYU on March 20. The All-American setter was also named the National Player of the Week on March 24 and helped the Waves end the month in third place in the MPSF standings.
West earned 30.63 percent of the total vote among the 18 finalists for the National Player of the Month. In addition, the senior beat-out the runner-up Lindenwood opposite Colin Hackworth by 117 votes.
Erskine opposite Mike Michelau, Hawai’i middle attacker Taylor Averill and Lewis outside attacker Greg Petty rounded-out the top-five vote-getters for this national award.
The National Player of the Month is one of two awards solely determined by the fans. Similar to the monthly award, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Fan Choice National Player of the Year is annual event at the end of the season with fans deciding the winner of this 64-player bracket-style tournament through online voting.
West for winning National Player of the Month will receive an automatic berth to the Fan Choice National Player of the Year tournament in May. Ball State middle attacker Matt West and Harvard outside attacker Branden Clemens also received automatic berths for winning the National Player of the Month earlier this season.
Off the Block was founded in 2011 and has emerged as one of the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage.
Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the National Player of the Month and the Fan Choice National Player of the Year. Springbak, Inc. produces high performance footwear used by professional athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB and U.S. Olympic teams and the top college teams in the nation.
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