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Mount Olive setter Jeff Yasalonis prevailed in a tight race that had more than 10,000 votes cast to be win the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Player of the Month for January.
Yasalonis received 3,932 online votes to beat-out second-place North Greenville libero Dustin King by less than 100 votes and earn the only college men’s volleyball national monthly award.
The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Player of the Month recognizes the best individual performances from NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball players during the month and gives fans from around the world the chance to determine who was the best player through online voting.
Yasalonis led Mount Olive to a conference-best .361 attack percentage and finished the month second in the Conference Carolinas with an 11.73 assists per game average. The setter also has more than 40 assists in the last three matches as Mount Olive ended January in third place in the Conference Carolinas.
Yasalonis and King combined to receive 72.8 percent of the 10,675 votes during the three-day voting period on the Off the Block website.
The Conference Carolinas had the top-four vote-getters among the 30 finalists for the National Player of the Month. Belmont Abbey outside attacker Nolan Albrecht finished in third place with 366 votes, while Pfeiffer outside attacker Jonathan Martinez received 315 votes to come in fourth place.
The National Player of the Month is one of two awards solely determined by the fans. Similar to the monthly award, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Fan Choice National Player of the Year is annual event at the end of the season with fans deciding the winner of this 64-player bracket-style tournament through online voting.
Both Yasalonis and King for receiving more than 3,000 votes and place in the top two will receive an automatic berths to the Fan Choice National Player of the Year tournament in May.
Off the Block was founded in 2011 and has emerged as one of the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage. Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the National Player of the Month and the Fan Choice National Player of the Year. Springbak, Inc. produces high performance footwear used by professional athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB and U.S. Olympic teams and the top college teams in the nation.
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