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Off the Block announced on Monday the recipients of the National Position Player of the Week Awards.
The National Position Player of the Week Awards recognize the libero, middle attacker, opposite, outside attacker and setter who had the best performances in NCAA men’s volleyball during the week.
The Off the Block staff determines each award recipient. The winners are announced every week 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 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.
Off the Block Weekly National Award recipients
National Setter of the Week: Nathan Lietzke, Stanford
National Opposite of the Week: Ido David, UCLA
National Outside Attacker of the Week: Ben Harrington, Princeton
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Toby Ezeonu, Penn State
National Libero of the Week: Nico Paula, Lewis
Nathan Lietzke, Stanford
Lietzke in two victories guided the offense to a .436 attack percentage against No. 10/10 Loyola on Monday and a .325 attack percentage against No. 14 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. The setter also had both a season-high 16 digs and three aces against UC Santa Barbara on Friday.
Ido David, UCLA
David finished with a match-high 12 kills and zero errors on a .667 attack percentage in a sweep against No. 10/10 Loyola on Saturday. The opposite also had a match-high five aces and added nine kills in a victory against No. 15 Lewis on Thursday.
Ben Harrington, Princeton
Harrington set a NCAA single-match record during the rally scoring era with 13 aces against Queens on Monday. The outside attacker also had a match-high 18 kills on a .531 attack percentage to help Princeton complete the two-match series sweep against Queens on Tuesday.
Toby Ezeonu, Penn State
Ezeonu finished with nine kills and zero errors on a .900 attack percentage and added three blocks in a sweep against Lees-McRae on Thursday. The middle attacker also had 11 kills and hit .667 in a sweep against King on Saturday.
Nico Paula, Lewis
Paula led all players with 13 digs in a five-game victory against No. 9/8 BYU on Saturday. The libero also had a match-high nine digs in a four-game loss to No. 1/1 UCLA on Thursday.