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A nationwide voting committee selected 17 student-athletes as finalists for the annual NCAA Division III men’s volleyball national awards presented by Off the Block and Springbak, Inc.
Off the Block announced Friday the finalists for the five position-based national awards — the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Setter of the Year, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Outside Attacker of the Year, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Opposite of the Year, the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Middle Attacker of the Year and the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Libero of the Year.
Each national award recognizes the most outstanding Division III player at their position during the recent season. While several other volleyball organizations present Division III national honors, these are the only nation position-based awards in Division III men’s volleyball.
A committee of 12 Division III head coaches voted for these national awards. The top-three vote-getters for each award were named finalists and the student-athlete receiving the most votes will be named the award winner.
Springfield to accompany its NCAA championship led all schools with four players being named finalists.
Carthage, Dominican, Vassar all had multiple players earn finalist honors. In addition, Hunter, NYU, Marian, Marymount, SUNY New Paltz, UC Santa Cruz and Wentworth each had one selected as a finalist.
The national winners and voting results for all five awards will be unveiled next week on the Off the Block website, offtheblockblog.com.
Off the Block is a college men’s volleyball website that launched in 2011 and is the nation’s leaders in college men’s volleyball coverage. Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor the new Division III national awards and 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.
2017 Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Setter of the Year finalists
Alex Coyne, Dominican
Collin Ritter, Wentworth
Luis Garcia Rubio, Springfield
2017 Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Outside Attacker of the Year finalists
Alex Li, NYU
Lake Merchen, UC Santa Cruz
Luis Vega, Springfield
2017 Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Opposite of the Year finalists
Griffin Shields, Carthage
Luke Spicer, Dominican
TJ Wiechecki, Marymount
2017 Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Libero of the Year finalists
Cody Bolan, Carthage
Trey Cimorelli, Vassar
Cullen Liberski, Marian
Joseph Muir, Hunter
Eli Irizaery Pares, Springfield
2017 Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Middle Attacker of the Year finalists
Kyle Jasuta, Springfield
Matthew Knigge, Vassar
Steve Woessner, SUNY New Paltz