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A nationwide voting committee selected Hawai’i middle attacker Patrick Gasman, UCLA middle attacker Daenan Gyimah and Lewis middle attacker Tyler Mitchem as finalists for the annual Ryan Millar Award.
The Ryan Millar Award, which is named after the former BYU All-American and U.S. Olympian, is presented to the nation’s best middle attacker in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season.
Off the Block announced the finalists on Sunday and will unveil the award winner on Friday as part of its College Men’s Volleyball National Awards Presentation.
Gasman led the Big West and was second in the nation with a 1.42 blocks per game average as he helped the Rainbow Warriors earn the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament. He also had a career-high .465 attack percentage and double-digit kills in two matches, including 10 kills while hitting .909 in a sweep against BYU in March.
Gyimah, the 2018 Ryan Millar Award winner, was fifth in the nation a .435 attack percentage and played the final weeks of the season out of position as a pin-hitter because UCLA’s injuries. He also had double-digit kills in 15 regular season matches and contributed 81 blocks.
Mitchem had a nation-best .505 attack percentage and double-digit kills in nine matches, including 11 kills and zero errors while hitting .846 in a conference sweep against Ball State in February. He also was in the top 10 of the nation averaging 1.13 blocks per game as he helped the Flyers win the MIVA championship and reach the NCAA Tournament.
The voting committee for the Ryan Millar Award was comprised of about 25 college men’s volleyball head coaches and volleyball reporters from around the nation.
The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the Ryan Millar Award.
This is the fourth year that Off the Block has presented of the Ryan Millar Award. Previous winners of this award are former Stanford All-American middle attacker Conrad Kaminski, former Long Beach State All-American middle attacker Amir Lugo-Rodriguez in 2017 and Gyimah last season.
Off the Block presents several end of season awards. Among the other national awards includes the Lloy Ball Award to the nation’s top setter, the Bryan Ivie Award to the nation’s top opposite, the Karch Kiraly Award to the nation’s top outside 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.