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Carthage libero Marc Hansen in one of the closest votes for a national award this season came out atop.
Off the Block announced Saturday that a nationwide voting committee selected Hasen by a two-vote margin as the inaugural recipient of the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Division III National Libero of the Year.
Hansen was among the conference leaders and in the nation’s top 50 with a 2.20 digs per game average. The All-American also had double-digit digs in six matches as he helped Carthage finish undefeated in conference play and earn the No. 3 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament.
Hansen received three first-place votes and beat-out the runner-up Hunter libero Joe Muir for the national award. Both SUNY New Paltz libero Kevin Nardone and Vassar libero Trey Cimorelli finished tied for third with nine points — four fewer points than Hansen.
A nationwide voting committee comprised of Division III head coaches determined the winner of this national award. In addition, the top-four vote-getters were named finalists.
Along with the National Libero of the Year award, Off the Block will present four more inaugural Division III awards this year — the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Setter of the Year, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Outside Attacker of the Year, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Opposite of the Year and the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Middle Attacker of the Year.
While several other volleyball organizations present Division III national honors, these will be the first national position-based awards in the history of Division III men’s volleyball. Off the Block also has presented similar position-based national awards for Division I-II men’s volleyball players during the last three seasons.
Off the Block is a college men’s volleyball website that launched in 2011 and is among the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage. Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor the new Division III national awards and 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.
OFF THE BLOCK/SPRINGBAK, INC. DIVISION III NATIONAL LIBERO OF THE YEAR VOTING RESULTS
Marc Hansen, Carthage — 13 (3) points
Joe Muir, Hunter — 11 (3) points
Kevin Nardone, SUNY New Paltz — 9 (2) points
Trey Cimorelli, Vassar — 9 (2) points
Ian Thompson, Benedictine — 6 (2) points
Tom Keisling, Nazareth — 6 (1) points
Brendan Chang, MIT — 3 (1) points
Quocmy Nguyen, Rutgers-Newark — 2 points
Josh Dougherty, MSOE — 1 point