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Five college men’s volleyball players have earned national awards for being the best at their position.
Off the Block announced Monday afternoon that Sacred Heart’s Joshua Ayzenberg, Lewis’ Ryan Coenen, UCLA’s Daenan Gyimah and Micah Ma’a, and Mount Olive’s Robert Poole were selected for the Off the Block National Position Player of the Week Awards.
The National Position Player of the Week Awards recognize the libero, middle attacker, outside attacker, opposite and setter who had the best performances in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the week.
The Off the Block staff determines each award recipient. In addition, the winners are announced every Monday 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 weekly awards. Off the Block at the end of the season also 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.
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.
National Position Player of the Week Awards
National Setter of the Week: Micah Ma’a, UCLA
National Opposite of the Week: Robert Poole, Mount Olive
National Outside Attacker of the Week: Ryan Coenen, Lewis
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Daenan Gyimah, UCLA
National Libero of the Week: Joshua Ayzenberg, Sacred Heart
National Setter of the Week: Micah Ma’a, UCLA
Ma’a guided the offense to a season-high .465 attack percentage as No. 2/2 UCLA defeated No. 4/4 UC Irvine in four games on Saturday for the Bruins’ fourth victory this season against a top-five nationally ranked team. The setter also had a match-best six aces and led the UCLA offense to more than a .400 attack percentage in a sweep versus Princeton on Thursday.
National Opposite of the Week: Robert Poole, Mount Olive
Poole finished with a season-high five aces and led all players with 12 kills on a. 476 attack percentage in a sweep against Limestone on Friday. He also had a match-high 17 kills as Mount Olive defeated North Greenville in four games on Saturday to remain tied for first place in the ConfCarolinas.
National Outside Attacker of the Week: Ryan Coenen, Lewis
Coenen led all players with a season-high 20 kills on a .621 attack percentage in a sweep against No. 13 USC on Friday. He also had a match-best three aces and contributed six digs in the non-conference home victory.
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Daenan Gyimah, UCLA
Gyimah finished with 14 kills on a team-best .619 attack percentage and added two aces to help No. 2/2 UCLA beat No. 4/4 UC Irvine in four games on Saturday. In addition, Gyimah had a match-high six blocks in a non-conference sweep against Princeton on Thursday.
National Libero of the Week: Joshua Ayzenberg, Sacred Heart
Ayzenberg set the NCAA single-match record for this season with 22 digs in a four-game non-conference victory against Belmont Abbey on Friday. The finalist for the 2017 Erik Shoji Award also leads the EIVA with a 3.42 digs per game average.