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The national accolades continue to roll in for UC Irvine outside attacker Hilir Henno.
Off the Block announced Sunday that a nationwide voting committee selected Henno as the recipient of the 2024 Nicolas Szerszen Award.
The Nicolas Szerszen Award is presented to the best non-U.S. born player in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season. The annual award is named after the former Ohio State All-American outside attacker who led the Buckeyes to back-to-back NCAA championships.
This is the only national award in college men’s volleyball recognizing the outstanding individual performances of international players who are pursuing their volleyball career and higher education in the United States.
Henno finished second in the nation with a 4.76 kills game average and had at least 20 kills in 10 matches, including a career-high 36 kills against Hawai’i in March. The AVCA National Player of the Year and French native also was eighth in the nation with a career-high .373 attack percentage.
Along with the offensive performance, Henno was in the nation’s top 20 averaging 0.42 aces per game.
The voting committee for the Nicolas Szerszen Award was comprised of more than 20 college coaches and media members from around the nation. The top three vote-getters were named finalists for this national honor.
Henno received 60 votes – more votes than the combined totals of the other two finalists. Long Beach State middle attacker Simon Torwie was the runner-up with 20 votes, while Long Beach State outside attacker Sotiris Siapanis finished in third place with 10 votes.
This is the eighth year that Off the Block has presented the Nicolas Szerszen Award.
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.
2024 Nicolas Szerszen Award voting results
1. Hilir Henno, UC Irvine (France) – 60 votes
2. Simon Torwie, Long Beach State (Germany) – 20 votes
3. Sotiris Siapanis, Long Beach State (Cyprus) – 10 votes
T-4. Spyros Chakas, Hawai’i (Greece) – 7 votes
T-4. Tinaishe Ndavazocheva, Ball State (Zimbabwe) – 7 votes
6. Ido David, UCLA (Israel) – 5 votes
7. Skyler Varga, Long Beach State (Canada) – 3 votes
T-8. Daniel Fabikovic, Loyola (Czech Republic) – 1 vote
T-8. Guilherme Voss, Hawai’i (Brazil) – 1 vote