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Ohio State outside attacker Nicolas Szerszen after having one of the best offensive seasons in the nation is now winning one of the top individual college men’s volleyball awards.
Off the Block announced Wednesday that a nationwide voting committee selected Szerszen as the recepient of the 2016 Karch Kiraly Award.
The Karch Kiraly Award, which is named after the former UCLA All-American and Volleyball Hall of Famer, is given to the nation’s best outside attacker in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season.
Szerszen finished the regular season in the nation’s top 10 with both a 4.34 kills per game average and and a .409 attack percentage. The 2016 MIVA Player of the Yesr also led the MIVA with a 46 aces and had more than 150 digs as the Buckeyes won the conference championship.
Szerszen received 18 of the 27 first-place votes from the nationwide voting committee comprised of coaches and media members.
Long Beach State freshman outside attacker TJ DeFalco finished in second place with 32 points — almost half as many points as Szerszen. In addition, Belmont Abbey outside attacker Nolan Albrecht came in third place with 10 points, while BYU outside attacker Brenden Sander earned nine points to end in fourth place.
The top four vote-getters were named finalists for this national award.
This is the second year of the Karch Kiraly Award. Former Penn State All-American outside attacker Aaron Russell was the inaugural winner of the award last year.
The Karch Kiraly Award is one of several end of season awards presented by Off the Block. 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 Ryan Millar Award to the nation’s top middle attacker, the Erik Shoji Award to the nation’s top libero, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Blocker of the Year and the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Server of the Year.
Off the Block launched its website in 2011 and is among the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage.
2016 KARCH KIRALY AWARD: VOTING RESULTS
1. Nicholas Szerszen, Ohio State — 63 (18) points
2. TJ DeFalco, Long Beach State — 32 (3) points
3. Nolan Albrecht, Belmont Abbey — 10 (2) points
4. Brenden Sander, BYU — 9 (1) points
5. Jabarry Goodridge, NJIT — 6 points
6. Jake Langlois, BYU — 5 (1) points
7. Sinisa Zarkovic, Hawai’i — 4 points
T-8. Stephen Braswell, St. Francis — 3 (1) points
T-8. Artur Cabral, Coker — 3 (1) points
T-8. Mike Michelau, Erskine — 3 points
11. Jake Arnitz, UCLA — 2 points
T-12. Obenda Besongngem, Alderson Broaddus — 1 point
T-12. Aleska Brkovic, Barton — 1 point
T-12. Madison Hayden, Stanford — 1 point
T-12. Chris Nugent, Penn State — 1 point
The players who play against him tell me that Nicholas S is the ‘real deal’. I value their assessment of him.
Turns out that this award is being won by the right person but – to be fair to volleyball fans – OTB should publish the names of all the selection panel.
Personally, I do not respect any award that has media people involved with it. On what criteria do these people judge these players? What makes them good judges of talent or achievement? Most America media suffers from….. 1) too much bias. 2) too little knowledge.
Congratulations Nicholos Szerszen on having such a fine season thusfar and good luck – to you personally – at the tournament.
I am done now….. It has been a wonderful 4 years of watching US Collegiate Volleyball and again I thank Vinnie and all at OTB for their service to the game. But OTB has to improve many aspects of its service if it is to keep up with a game that is evolving fast.
i am lucky. I now get to watch, and be involved with, European and International Volleyball …
Good luck to all at OTB and to all genuine Volleyball fans who follow this great game…..
Richard Lipscombe.