Follow
An All-American who helped lead UC Santa Barbara to the Big West championship and the NCAA Tournament semifinals is being recognized as the best in the nation.
Outside attacker Roy McFarland garnered the votes in the championship round that ended Thursday to win the 2021 Off the Block/Frisco Mo Fan Choice National Player of the Year.
The Off the Block/Frisco Mo 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 lets volleyball fans from around the world decide the winner through online voting.
The five-round bracket style tournament concluded with McFarland receiving almost 1,400 votes in the four-player championship round.
McFarland was in the top 15 of the Big West with both a .304 attack percentage and 2.78 kills per game average. The senior also had a season-high 21 kills on a .340 attack percentage in a NCAA Tournament opening round victory against Pepperdine.
Along with his offensive performance, McFarland was in the conference’s top 10 with 100 digs and was among the team leaders in service receptions.
McFarland received 51.42 percent of the total vote in the championship round to edge out the runner-up Mount Olive middle attacker Luke Visgitis by about 200 votes and 8 percentage points.
BYU setter Wil Stanley and UC San Diego outside attacker Kyle McCauley finished tied for third place receiving 2.58 percent of the vote.
Several volleyball organizations give a National Player of the Year award at the end of each season. However, the Fan Choice Player of the Year is the only player of the year award solely determined by the fans.
This is the 10th year of the Fan Choice Player of the Year. Previous winners are Loyola outside attacker Mike Bunting in 2011, Ball State middle attacker Matt Leske in 2012, Fort Wayne outside attacker Eddie Rivera in 2013, BYU outside attacker Taylor Sander in 2014, Coker opposite Artur Cabral in 2015 and Pepperdine outside attacker David Wieczorek in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
This poll is no longer accepting votes