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Pepperdine outside attacker David Wieczorek retained his title as the people’s choice for the best player in college men’s volleyball.
Wieczorek received almost 2,000 online votes in the championship round to win the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Fan Choice National Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Fan Choice National Player of the Year recognizes the best individual performances from NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball players during the season and allows volleyball fans from around the world to decide the winner through online voting. The annual bracket-style tournament had more than 29,000 votes, including almost 3,000 votes in the championship round.
Wieczorek finished the season eighth in the nation with a 3.86 kills per game average on a .354 attack percentage, including having at least 20 kills in four matches. He also earned First-Team All-MPSF honors as Pepperdine reached the conference tournament quarterfinals.
The Pepperdine sophomore garnered 1,987 votes and 67.2 percent of the total vote in the four-person championship round to win back-to-back National Player of the Year honors.
UC San Diego opposite Tanner Syftestad finished as the runner-up for the national award earning 19.04 percent of the total vote. In addition, CSUN opposite Arvis Greene ended in third place with 10.01 percent of the vote, while Ohio State All-American opposite Miles Johnson rounded-out the championship round ballot earning 3.75 percent of the vote.
All four players received enough votes in the first four rounds of the 70-player tournament to earn a spot in the championship round.
Among the players Wieczorek defeated in the National Player of the Year Tournament to reach the championship round were Penn State opposite Calvin Mende, Barton outside attacker Vasilas Mandilaris, St. Francis setter Daniel Ford and UC Irvine middle attacker Scott Stadick.
Wieczorek is the first multiple-time winner of the Fan Choice National Player of the Year in the seven-year history of the award. Previous winners include Loyola outside attacker Mike Bunting in 2011, Ball State middle attacker Matt Leske in 2012, IPFW outside attacker Eddie Rivera in 2013, the BYU outside attacker Taylor Sander in 2014 and Coker opposite Artur Cabral in 2015.
Off the Block is a website that launched in 2011 and is the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage. Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the 2016 Fan Choice National Player of the Year 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.
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