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A season-best performance and helping Stanford pull off two upsets was more than enough for opposite Jaylen Jasper to earn another college men’s volleyball national award.
Off the Block announced Monday that Jasper was selected as the Springbak/Off the Block National Freshman of the Week.
Jasper led all players with both a season-high 27 kills on a .409 attack percentage and four aces as Stanford defeated No. 13 Grand Canyon in five games on Thursday. The opposite also had 19 kills on a .317 attack percentage and a match-high four aces in a four-game victory against No. 14 Concordia-Irvine on Saturday.
This is the second time in the last four weeks that Jasper has been named the National Freshman of the Week. Jasper earned the award in March after having 27 kills in a non-conference win against UC San Diego.
The National Freshman of the Week is presented each week during the regular season to the NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball freshman who had the most outstanding performance. The winner is announced every Monday during the regular season on the Off the Block website, offtheblockblog.com.
Each of the five NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball conferences have an opportunity each week to nominate one player for the National Freshman of the Week. In addition, fans and teams can nominate a player for the National Freshman of the Week by tweeting their nominee to the official Twitter account of Off the Block, @offtheblock11.
Off the Block is a website that started in January 2011 and has become the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage.
Springbak, Inc. is the official sponsor of the 2018 Freshmen All-American Team and National Freshman of the Week 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.
National Freshman of the Week honorable mentions
Alvaro Gimeno, NJIT — Gimeno had both a team-high 17 kills on a .314 attack percentage and two aces as NJIT almost upset George Mason before losing in a fifth game. He also had a match-high three aces and added seven kills in a non-conference victory against Erskine on Wednesday.
Jake Hanes, Ohio State — Hanes finished with a match-high three aces along with 12 kills on a .409 attack percentage in a sweep against No. 10/9 Lewis on Saturday. He also had nine kills in a four-game victory against No. 6/5 Loyola on Thursday.
Sam Lewis, USC — Lewis finished with a match-high five blocks and had 10 kills on a .471 attack percentage as USC upset its crosstown rival No. 3/3 UCLA in five games on Saturday.
Florian Ruhm, Limestone — Ruhm finished with a match-high 12 digs in a sweep against Lees-McRae on Thursday.
Tristan Santoyo, Queens — Santoyo had both a team-high 16 kills and nine digs along with two aces in a five-game loss to Coker on Tuesday. He also contributed six kills and three aces to help Queens sweep Lees-McRae on Wednesday.
Jack Truman, UC Santa Barbara — Truman had a match-high six blocks and added 10 kills on a .438 attack percentage in a four-game victory against No. 8/10 CSUN on Saturday. The middle attacker also had eight kills while hitting .500 in a four-game loss to open the home-and-home series against CSUN on Friday.