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A nationwide voting committee has selected Lewis outside attacker Ryan Coenen, Lincoln Memorial opposite Evan Cory and Barton opposite Angelos Mandilaris as finalists for the Division II National Player of the Year.
The Division II National Player of the Year is awarded to the nation’s best player on a NCAA Division II men’s volleyball team during the regular season. While Division I and Division II schools compete for the same national championship and individual awards, this award is the only national player of the year solely for Division II players.
Off the Block announced the award finalists on Saturday and will unveil the winner next week as part of its College Men’s Volleyball National Awards Presentation.
Coenen was in the nation’s top 15 with a 4.00 kills per game average on a career-best .330 attack percentage. The MIVA Player of the Year had double-digit kills in all but four matches, including a season-high 23 kills on a .543 attack percentage in a road victory against Stanford days before the rest of the season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cory finished fifth in the nation with a 4.26 kills per game average on a career-best .365 attack percentage and was in the country’s top 25 averaging 2.05 digs per game. The Independent Teams Player of the Year had at least 20 kills in five matches along with 16 kills while hitting .556 in an early-season loss to then-No. 1/1 Hawai’i.
Mandilaris, the ConfCarolinas Player of the Year, was third in the nation with a 4.43 kills per game average and was in the country’s top 15 with a career-best .412 attack percentage. He also had double-digit kills in all but two matches for the defending ConfCarolinas champions, including a match-high 25 kills in an upset sweep against Loyola.
Both Cory and Mandilaris have been named finalists for this award the last two seasons.
A voting committee of about 25 men’s volleyball coaches and volleyball media members from around the nation determined the winner of the Division II National Player of the Year.
The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the national honor.
This is the fourth year that Off the Block has presented the Division II National Player of the Year. Former UC San Diego opposite Tanner Syftestad won the award in 2017 and 2018, while former Lewis All-American setter Matt Yoshimoto earned the honor last year.
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.