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Sixty-five players have been selected for the Off the Block Fan Choice Player of the Year tournament field.
The Fan Choice Player of the Year recognizes the best individual performances from NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball players during the season and gives volleyball fans from around the world the chance to determine who was the best player.
This annual contest is a bracket-style, seven-round tournament pairing the nation’s best players against each other with the winner being determined through online voting on the Off the Block website, offtheblockblog.com.
The tournament will begin at 5 p.m. (EST) Tuesday with a six-hour online voting play-in match between Ball State outside attacker Jamion Hartley and Cal Baptist outside attacker Aaron McCalmont.
The 32 first-round matches will then begin on Wednesday and Thursday. Each round will last one day with the online polls closing at 11 p.m. (EST), with the exception of the championship round. The player with the most votes when the polls close will advance to the next round.
The championship round will feature the four regional champions going up against each other in an online poll that will last June 3-7.
Several volleyball organizations give a National Player of the Year award at the end of each season. However, the Off the Block Fan Choice Player of the Year is the only player of the year award solely determined by the fans.
Off the Block selected and seeded the tournament field using several factors, including a player’s performance during the season, all-conference and All-American honors, level of competition played throughout the season and how the player’s team fared.
Each team making the postseason in the EIVA, MIVA, MPSF and the Conference Carolinas received an automatic player bid to the tournament. Off the Block also awarded 33 at-large bids to complete the 65-player field.
Players selected to the tournament were placed into four regions. Each region — the Tony Ciarelli region, the Max Holt region, the Jeff Menzel region and the Erik Shoji region — was named after members of the U.S. Men’s National Team for the upcoming World League this summer.
This is third year of the Off the Block Fan Choice Player of the Year. Ball State middle attacker Leske won the 2012 Fan Choice Player of the Year as more than 40,000 online votes were cast throughout the tournament.
Below is a schedule of the tournament and the first-round matches.
Off the Block Fan Choice Player of the Year tournament schedule
Tuesday, May 28: Play-in match
Wednesday, May 29: First-round of Tony Ciarelli and Max Holt regions
Thursday, May 30: First-round of Jeff Menzel and Erik Shoji regions
Friday, May 31: Second-round matches
Saturday, June 1: Regional semifinals
Sunday, June 2: Regional finals
Monday, June 3 – Friday, June 7: Championship round
*Polls close at 11 p.m. (EST) for every round
TONY CIARELLI REGION
No. 1 seed Taylor Crabb, Long Beach State vs.
No. 16 seed Nolan Albrecht, Belmont Abbey
No. 2 seed Matt West, Pepperdine vs.
No. 15 seed Max McFarland, George Mason
No. 3 seed Ben Patch, BYU vs.
No. 14 seed Dalton Ammerman, Long Beach State
No. 4 seed BJ Boldog, Lewis vs.
No. 13 seed Ryan Mather, Grand Canyon
No. 5 seed Micah Christenson, USC vs.
No. 12 seed Robart Page, UCLA
No. 6 seed Kevin Owens, Ball State vs.
No. 11 seed James Shaw, Stanford
No. 7 seed Scott Kevorken, UC Irvine vs.
No. 10 seed Eddie Rivera, IPFW
No. 8 seed Greg Herceg, Ball State vs.
No. 9 seed Sinisa Zarkovic, Hawai’i
MAX HOLT REGION
No. 1 seed Taylor Sander, BYU vs.
No. 16 seed Mike Michelau, Erskine
No. 2 seed Brian Cook, Stanford vs.
No. 15 seed Jordon Tarantino, Grand Canyon
No. 3 seed Geoff Powell, Lewis vs.
No. 14 seed Taylor Hammond, Penn State
No. 4 seed Colin Mehring, UC Irvine vs.
No. 13 seed Caleb Zimmick, Harvard
No. 5 seed Evan Mottram, UCLA
No. 12 seed Logan Patterson, St. Francis
No. 6 seed Thomas Jaeschke, Loyola
No. 11 seed John Baker, Cal State Northridge
No. 7 seed Guilherme Koepp, Cal Baptist vs.
No. 10 seed Cody Kessel, Princeton
No. 8 seed Taylor Hughes, Pacific
No. 9 seed Taylor Gregory, Long Beach State
JEFF MENZEL REGION
No. 1 seed Kevin Tillie, UC Irvine vs.
No. 16 seed Jack Gramache, Quincy
No. 2 seed Dylan Davis, UC Santa Barbara vs.
No. 15 seed Efrain Negron, Lees-McRae
No. 3 seed Gonzalo Quiroga, UCLA vs.
No. 14 seed Angel Dache, Mount Olive
No. 4 seed Connor Olbright, Long Beach State vs.
No. 13 seed Ryan Boyce, BYU
No. 5 seed Aaron Russell, Penn State vs.
*No. 12 seed Aaron McCalmont, Cal Baptist or
*No. 12 seed Jamion Hartley, Ball State
Play-in match
No. 6 seed Spencer Rowe, UCLA vs.
No. 11 seed Colin Hackworth, Lindenwood
No. 7 seed Pat Schwagler, Princeton vs.
No. 10 seed Tommy Rouse, Ball State
No. 8 seed Bennan Anderson, Ohio State
No. 9 seed Brook Sedore, Hawai’i
ERIK SHOJI REGION
No. 1 seed Joseph Smalzer, Loyola vs.
No. 16 seed Andrew Miller, Limestone
No. 2 seed Maurice Torres, Pepperdine vs.
No. 15 seed Carl Eberts, UC San Diego
No. 3 seed Levi Cabral, Cal Baptist vs.
No. 14 seed Jonah Seif, UC Santa Barbara
No. 4 seed Michael Brinkley, UC Irvine vs.
No. 13 seed Matt Leske, Ball State
No. 5 seed Russ Lavaja, BYU vs.
No. 12 seed Dane Worley, UCLA
No. 6 seed Steven Irvin, Stanford vs.
No. 11 seed Michael Henchy, Ohio State
No. 7 seed Caleb Brophy, Pfeiffer vs.
No. 10 seed Michael Kvidahl, George Mason
No. 8 seed Mark Jones, George Mason
No. 9 seed DJ White, Harvard
How can you give Leske a 13 seed when he won it all last year?