BYU opposite Patch wins 2016 Bryan Ivie Award in landslide vote

BYU opposite Ben Patch in his first season back on the court after a two-year church mission has earned one of the nation’s top individual awards.

Off the Block announced Tuesday that a nationwide voting committee selected Patch as the winner of the 2016 Bryan Ivie Award.

The Bryan Ivie Award, which is named after the former USC All-American and U.S. Olympian, is presented to the nation’s best opposite in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season.

Patch ended the regular season leading the MPSF and sixth in the nation with a 4.31 kills per game average, including having 12 matches with at least 15 kills. The also had a .383 attack percentage and added 58 blocks as the Cougars won the MPSF regular season championship and then won MPSF Tournament championship to earn the No. 1 overall seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Patch received all but three first-place votes from the nationwide 26-person voting committee comprised of head coaches and media members.

Pepperdine opposite Matt Tarantion finished as the runner-up with 30 points — less than half of the points Patch received for the national award. In addition, IPFW opposite Andy Sellan had 10 points to come in third place.

The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the Bryan Ivie Award.

This is the second year of the Bryan Ivie Award. Pepperdine opposite Parker Kalmbach was the inaugural winner of this national award last season.

The Bryan Ivie Award is one of several end of season awards presented by Off the Block. Among the other national awards includes the Lloy Ball Award to the nation’s top setter, the Ryan Millar Award to the nation’s top middle attacker, the Karch Kiraly Award to the nation’s top outside attacker, the Erik Shoji Award to the nation’s top libero, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Server of the Year and the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Blocker of the Year.

Off the Block is a national award winning college men’s volleyball website that launched in January 2011.

2016 BRYAN IVIE AWARD: VOTING RESULTS
1. Ben Patch, BYU — 71 (23) points
2. Matt Tarantino, Pepperdine — 30 points
3. Andy Sellan, IPFW — 10 (1) points
4. Branden Clemens, Harvard — 5 points
T-5. Mitch Perinar, Lewis — 4 points
T-5. Stijn van Tilburg, Hawai’i — 4 points
T-7. Jeff Hogan, St. Francis — 3 (1) points
T-7. Joao Victor Santos, Coker — 3 (1) points
9. Kyle Ensing, Long Beach State — 2 points
T-10. Christopher Delucie, Sacred Heart — 1 point
T-10. Miles Johnson, Ohio State — 1 point
T-10. Vasilis Mandilaris, Barton — 1 point
T-10. Matt Marsh, UC Santa Barbara — 1 point
T-10. Ryan Moore, Lindenwood — 1 point