Follow
The bracket and the 64 players in the field have been finalized for the annual Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Fan Choice National Player of the Year tournament.
The Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Fan Choice National Player of the Year recognizes the best individual performances from NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball players during the season and gives volleyball fans from around the world the chance to determine who was the best player.
This annual contest is a bracket-style, five-round tournament pairing the nation’s best players against each other. In addition, the winner for each match-up is determined through online voting on the Off the Block website at offtheblockblog.com/playerofyear.
The tournament begins with the first-round matches on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The first-round voting will last one day with the online polls closing at 10 p.m. (CST). The voting period will be two days for the second round, regional semifinals and regional finals.
The four players that win the regional championship will advance to the championship round with voting taking place on May 23-25.
An individual will be allowed to vote only one time per hour for each match during the tournament.
Several volleyball organizations give a National Player of the Year award at the end of each season. However, the Fan Choice Player of the Year is the only player of the year award solely determined by the fans.
Off the Block selected and seeded the tournament field using several factors, including a player’s performance during the season, all-conference and All-American honors, level of competition played throughout the season and how the player’s team fared.
Players selected to the tournament were placed into four regions.
Off the Block named each region after a former Long Beach State great in honor of the 49ers winning their first NCAA championship in 27 years. The four regions are the Tyler Hildebrand Region, Scott Touzinsky Region, Brett Winslow Region and the Brent Hilliard Region
This is eighth year of the Fan Choice Player of the Year. Previous winners are Loyola outside attacker Mike Bunting in 2011, Ball State middle attacker Matt Leske in 2012, Fort Wayne outside attacker Eddie Rivera in 2013, the BYU outside attacker Taylor Sander in 2014, Coker opposite Artur Cabral in 2015 and Pepperdine outside attacker David Wieczorek in 2016 and 2017.
Below is a schedule of the tournament and tournament bracket.
Tournament schedule
Tuesday, May 15: First round for Tyler Hildebrand Region and Scott Touzinsky Region
Wednesday, May 16: First round for Brett Winslow Region and the Brent Hilliard Region
Thursday, May 17 to Friday, May 18: Second round
Saturday, May 19 to Sunday, May 20: Regional semifinals
Monday, May 21 to Tuesday, May 22: Regional finals
Wednesday, May 23 to Friday, May 25: Championship round
*Polls close at 10 p.m. (CST) for every round
Tyler Hildebrand Region
No. 1 seed Josh Tuaniga, Long Beach State
No. 16 seed Puna Kaniho, Grand Canyon
No. 2 seed David Wieczorek, Pepperdine
No. 15 seed Tyler Mitchem, Lewis
No. 3 seed Brenden Sander, BYU
No. 14 seed Robert Mullahey, Pepperdine
No. 4 seed Tanner Syftestad, UC San Diego
No. 13 seed Rado Parapunov, Hawai’i
No. 5 seed Ryan Coenen, Lewis
No. 12 seed Calvin Mende, Penn State
No. 6 seed Angelos Mandilaris, Barton
No. 11 seed Patrick Gasman, Hawai’i
No. 7 seed George Huhmann, Princeton
No. 10 seed Liam Maxwell, Belmont Abbey
No. 8 seed Jeff Sprayberry, King
No. 9 seed Garrett Zolg, Loyola
Scott Touzinsky Region
No. 1 seed TJ DeFalco, Long Beach State
No. 16 seed Connor Hipelius, Lindenwood
No. 2 seed Daenan Gyimah, UCLA
No. 15 seed Marko Kostich, Harvard
No. 3 seed Jeff Jendryk, Loyola
No. 14 seed Ashton King, Grand Canyon
No. 4 seed Joe Worsley, Hawai’i
No. 13 seed Dimitar Kalchev, CSUN
No. 5 seed Nick Amado, Long Beach State
No. 12 seed Pedro Carvalho, Lincoln Memorial
No. 6 seed Matt Walsh, Ball State
No. 11 seed Brad Gretsch, Harvard
No. 7 seed Christian Hessenauer, UCLA
No. 10 seed Corey Chavers, UC Santa Barbara
No. 8 seed Jack Wyett, USC
No. 9 seed Jacob Weiser, Concordia-Irvine
Brett Winslow Region
No. 1 seed Nicolas Szerszen, Ohio State
No. 16 seed Aleksa Brkovic, Barton
No. 2 seed Stijn van Tilburg, Hawai’i
No. 15 seed Alvaro Gimeno, NJIT
No. 3 seed Larry Tuileta, Hawai’i
No. 14 seed Nick Drooker, King
No. 4 seed Gabi Garcia Fernandez, BYU
No. 13 seed Aaron Koubi, UC Irvine
No. 5 seed Maxime Hervoir, Ohio State
No. 12 seed Jake Arnitz, UCLA
No. 6 seed Brian Negron, George Mason
No. 11 seed Robert Poole, Mount Olive
No. 7 seed Jaylen Jasper, Stanford
No. 10 seed Collin Mahan, Loyola
No. 8 seed Joao Victor Santos, Coker
No. 9 seed Leo Durkin, BYU
Brent Hilliard Region
No. 1 seed Micah Ma’a, UCLA
No. 16 seed Simon Anderson, Long Beach State
No. 2 seed Kyle Ensing, Long Beach State
No. 15 seed Jake Hanes, Ohio State
No. 3 seed Scott Stadick, UC Irvine
No. 14 seed Joshua Ayzenberg, Sacred Heart
No. 4 seed Arvis Greene, CSUN
No. 13 seed Hayden Wagner, George Mason
No. 5 seed Karl Apfelbach, UC Irvine
No. 12 seed Price Jarman, BYU
No. 6 seed Evan Enriques, Stanford
No. 11 seed Brendan Schmidt, McKendree
No. 7 seed Pelegrin Vargas, Fort Wayne
No. 10 seed Hunter Howell, Concordia-Irvine
No. 8 seed Sanil Thomas, Ohio State
No. 9 seed Evan Cory, Lincoln Memorial