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UCLA middle attacker Daenan Gyimah for the second consecutive year is earning a national award for being the best at his position.
Off the Block announced Friday that a nationwide voting committee selected Gyimah as the winner of the 2019 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.
Gyimah 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 of multiple UCLA injuries. He also had double-digit kills in 15 regular season matches and contributed 81 blocks.
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.
Gyimah with 54 votes received more than double the votes of the runner-up, Hawai’i middle attacker Patrick Gasman. In addition, the other finalist Lewis middle attacker Tyler Mitchem received 14 points.
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.
2019 Ryan Millar Award voting results
1. Daenan Gyimah, UCLA — 54 points
2. Patrick Gasman, Hawai’i — 25 points
3. Tyler Mitchem, Lewis — 14 points
4. Nick Amado, Long Beach State — 8 points
5. Pedro Carvalho, Lincoln Memorial — 5 points
T-6. George Huhmann, Princeton — 3 points
T-6. Keenan Sanders, UC Santa Barbara — 3 points
T-8. TJ Murray, Lewis — 2 points
T-8. Kyler Presho, Stanford — 2 points
T-10. Luca Berger, NJIT — 1 point
T-10. Scott Stadick, UC Irvine — 1 point