Stanford libero Enriques wins inaugural Erik Shoji Award

The inaugural recipient of the Erik Shoji Award will be a Stanford libero.

Off the Block announced Thursday that a nationwide voting committee selected sophomore Evan Enriques as the winner of the newest college men’s volleyball national award.

The Erik Shoji Award is named after the former four-time Stanford All-American libero and is given to the nation’s best libero in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season.

Enriques was in the nation’s top 10 and had a MPSF-best 2.59 digs per game average during the regular season. The Stanford second-year starter also had double-digit digs in eight conference matches, including a career-high 18 digs against Long Beach State in February.

The Cardinal ended the regular season in the top four of the MPSF and narrowly missed the final at-large bid to the six-team NCAA Tournament.

Enriques received seven first-place votes and 33 points to beat-out the runner-up IPFW libero Luis Bertran by nine points. In addition, Hawai’i libero Kolby Kanetake finished in third place with 21 points.

A 26-person nationwide committee comprised of coaches and volleyball media members voted for the Erik Shoji Award. The top three vote-getters were named finalists for this national award.

The Erik Shoji 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 Karch Kiraly Award to the nation’s top outside attacker, the Ryan Millar Award to the nation’s top middle attacker, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Server of the Year and the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Blocker of the Year.

Off the Block is a national award winning college men’s volleyball website that launched in January 2011.

2016 ERIK SHOJI AWARD: VOTING RESULTS
1. Evan Enriques, Stanford — 33 (7) points
2. Luis Bertran, IPFW — 24 (5) points
3. Kolby Kanetake, Hawai’i — 21 (1) points
4. Meshach McKnight, Emmanuel — 14 (4) points
5. Kekaulike Alameda, Barton — 10 (2) points
6. Davis Gillett, UCLA — 9 (2) points
7. Johnny Gomez, George Mason — 7 (2) points
8. Andrew Sato, Long Beach State — 6 (1) points
9. Erik Arroyo, Alderson Broaddus — 5 (1) points
10. Gabe Woffindin, St. Francis — 3 (1) points
T-11. Joshua Ayzenberg, Sacred Heart — 2 points
T-11. Parker Boehle, UC Santa Barbara — 2 points
T-11. Michael Schneck, Erskine — 2 points
T-13. Dillon Hoffman, UC Irvine — 1 point
T-13. Erik Sikes, BYU — 1 point