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Long Beach State setter Josh Tuaniga after spearheading the most efficient offense in the nation is earning the top award for a setter.
Off the Block announced Monday that a nationwide voting committee selected Tuaniga as the recipient of the 2017 Lloy Ball Award.
The Lloy Ball Award, which is named after the former Fort Wayne All-American and U.S. Olympian setter, is presented to the nation’s best setter in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season.
Tuaniga in the regular season led the nation with a 11.28 assists per game average. He also helped Long Beach State earn a share of the MPSF regular season championship and guided the offense to a nation-best .377 attack percentage, including hitting more than .400 in 12 regular season matches.
Along with his regular season performance, Tuaniga earned All-MPSF Tournament Team honors and had a match-high three aces in the 49ers’ conference tournament finals victory on Saturday to clinch a NCAA Tournament berth.
Tuaniga, a Lloy Ball Award finalist in 2016 as a freshman, received more votes than the other top-five vote-getters combined for this national award.
The voting committee for the Lloy Ball Award was comprised of about 25 college men’s volleyball head coaches and volleyball media members from around the nation.
The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the Lloy Ball Award.
Ohio State setter Christy Blough finished in second place with 16 votes — 50 fewer votes than than Tuaniga. The other finalist BYU setter Leo Durkin earned 14 votes for third place.
The Lloy Ball Award is one of several end of season awards presented by Off the Block. Among the other national awards includes the Karch Kiraly Award to the nation’s top outside attacker, the Bryan Ivie Award to the nation’s top opposite, the Erik Shoji Award to the nation’s top libero and the Ryan Millar Award to the nation’s top middle attacker.
Off the Block is a national award winning website that launched in 2011 and is the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage.
LLOY BALL AWARD (voting results)
1. Josh Tuaniga, Long Beach State — 66 votes
2. Christy Blough, Ohio State — 16 votes
3. Leo Durkin, BYU — 14 votes
4. Michael Saeta, UC Irvine — 8 votes
5. Micah Ma’a, UCLA — 6 votes
6. Jennings Franciskovic, Hawai’i — 5 votes
7. Connor Gross, Ball State — 3 votes
8. Matt Yoshimoto, Lewis — 2 votes
T-9. Nick Drooker, King — 1 vote
T-9. Federico Pagliara, Barton — 1 vote