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Add one of college men’s volleyball’s top national awards to go along with a conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament to the list of accomplishment for Long Beach State opposite Kyle Ensing.
Off the Block announced Tuesday that a nationwide voting committee selected Ensing as the 2018 recipient of the Bryan Ivie Award.
The Bryan Ivie Award, which is named after the former USC All-American and U.S. Olympian, is presented to the nation’s best opposite in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season.
Ensing was in the nation’s top 15 with a .357 attack percentage and among the national leaders with a 3.46 kills per game average. The junior had 14 regular season matches with double-digit kills while hitting .300, including a season-high 19 kills on a .400 attack percentage in a victory against UCLA in February.
That victory was part of Long Beach State’s 23-match winning streak to open the season. In addition, Ensing helped the 49ers win the inaugural Big West championship and earn the No. 1 overall seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Along with his offensive performance, Ensing had a career-high 31 aces and was second among Big West opposites with a 1.48 digs per game average.
A voting committee of about 25 men’s volleyball coaches and volleyball media members from around the nation determined the winner of the Bryan Ivie Award The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the award.
Ensing received 53 votes — more votes than the other top-five vote-getters had combined.
UC San Diego opposite Tanner Syftestad finished as the runner-up with 23 votes, while the other finalist CSUN opposite Arvis Greene garnered 16 votes.
This is the third year that Off the Block has presented the Bryan Ivie Award. Previous winners are BYU All-American opposite Ben Patch in 2016 and Hawai’i All-American opposite Stijn van Tilburg in 2017.
The Bryan Ivie Award is one of several end of season awards presented by Off the Block. Among the other national awards includes Lloy Ball Award to the nation’s top setter, the Karch Kiraly Award to the nation’s top outside attacker, 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.
Bryan Ivie Award (voting results
1. Kyle Ensing, Long Beach State — 53 votes
2. Tanner Syftestad, UC San Diego — 23 votes
3. Arvis Greene, CSUN — 16 votes
4. Christian Hessenauer, UCLA — 8 votes
5. Karl Apfelbach, UC Irvine — 7 votes
6. Gabi Garcia Fernandez, BYU — 6 votes
7. Calvin Mende, Penn State — 4 votes
T-8 Ricky Gevis, Loyola — 3 votes
T-8. Evan Cory, Lincoln Memorial — 3 votes
10. Angelos Mandilaris, Barton — 2 votes