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Five college men’s volleyball players have earned national awards for being the best at their position.
Sacred Heart’s Joshua Ayzenberg, Barton’s Aleksa Brkovic, Loyola’s Ricky Gevis, Princeton’s Joe Kelly and McKendree’s Brendan Schmidt were selected for the Off the Block/Molten National Position Player of the Week Awards.
The National Position Player of the Week Awards recognize the libero, middle attacker, opposite, outside attacker and setter who had the best performances in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the week.
The Off the Block staff determines each award recipient. In addition, the winners are announced every Monday during the regular season on the Off the Block website, offtheblockblog.com.
While there are other weekly national awards in college men’s volleyball, these are the only position-based weekly awards. Off the Block at the end of the season also presents the Lloy Ball Award to the nation’s top setter, 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 and the Erik Shoji Award to the nation’s top libero.
Molten is the official volleyball supplier of the NCAA and is the 2018 sponsor of the National Position Player of the Week Awards.
Off the Block is a national award winning website that launched in 2011 and is the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage.
National Position Player of the Week Awards
Off the Block/Molten National Setter of the Week: Joe Kelly, Princeton
Off the Block/Molten National Opposite of the Week: Ricky Gevis, Loyola
Off the Block/Molten National Outside Attacker of the Week: Aleksa Brkovic, Barton
Off the Block/Molten National Middle Attacker of the Week: Brendan Schmidt, McKendree
Off the Block/Molten National Libero of the Week: Joshua Ayzenberg, Sacred Heart
Off the Block/Molten National Setter of the Week: Joe Kelly, Princeton
Kelly led Princeton to have more than a .300 attack percentage in back-to-back five-game victories against Lindenwood and Mckendree. The setter also had a combined 25 digs during the Princeton’s three-match Midwest road trip last week, including 13 digs in the victory against Lindenwood.
Off the Block/Molten National Opposite of the Week: Ricky Gevis, Loyola
Gevis finished with a team-high 10 kills and zero attack errors while hitting .556 as No. 6/5 Loyola swept No. 11 Ball State on Thursday. He also led all players with 12 kills and added five digs and three blocks in a sweep against No. 15 Fort Wayne on Saturday that kept Loyola in sole possession of first place in the MIVA.
Off the Block/Molten National Outside Attacker of the Week: Aleksa Brkovic, Barton
Brkovic had a combined 20 kills on a .515 attack percentage in conference sweeps against North Greenville and Limestone during the weekend to help Barton maintain its first-place lead in the ConfCarolinas. In addition, Brkovic had both a team-high 14 kills and three aces along with eight digs in a four-game non-conference victory against Coker on Tuesday.
Off the Block/Molten National Middle Attacker of the Week: Brendan Schmidt, McKendree
Schmidt had a season-high 15 kills on a .545 attack percentage and added four blocks as McKendree defeated Princeton in four games on Saturday to split their two-match non-conference series. The middle attacker also had nine kills on a .412 attack percentage and a team-high three blocks in a five-game loss Friday to open the series.
Off the Block/Molten National Libero of the Week: Joshua Ayzenberg, Sacred Heart
Ayzenberg led all players with 15 digs in a four-game loss to Harvard on Saturday. In addition, Ayzenberg had a match-high 12 digs in a four-game victory against Alderson Broaddus on Thursday, and he now has double-digit digs in 10 matches this season.