Off the Block announces winners of National Position Player of Week Awards

Five college men’s volleyball players have earned national awards for being the best at their position.

Pepperdine’s Kaleb Denmark, BYU’s Gabi Garcia Fernandez, UC Irvine’s David Parker, Emmanuel’s Don Thompson and Hawai’i’s Joe Worsley were selected for the Off the Block 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.

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 National Setter of the Week: Joe Worsley, Hawai’i
Off the Block National Opposite of the Week: Gabi Garcia Fernandez, BYU
Off the Block National Outside Attacker of the Week: Kaleb Denmark, Pepperdine
Off the Block National Middle Attacker of the Week: Don Thompson, Emmanuel
Off the Block National Libero of the Week: David Parker, UC Irvine

Joe Worsley, Hawai’i
Worsley guided the offense to a .493 attack percentage at the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Warrior Classic as Hawai’i went undefeated in its three matches to win its home non-conference tournament. The setter also led the Rainbow Warriors with six aces and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Gabi Garcia Fernandez, BYU
Fernandez had both a team-high 15 kills on a .357 attack percentage and six digs in a season-opening sweep against No. 7/7 Ohio State on Thursday. He also led all players with 16 kills while hitting .462 in a sweep against No. 14 Ball State on Saturday.

Kaleb Denmark, Pepperdine
Denmark had 28 combined kills in a two-match home-and-home series sweep against No. 10/10 UC Santa Barbara last week. In the series finale, Denmark contributed 14 kills on a .370 attack percentage and 10 digs to help the Waves remain undefeated.

Don Thompson, Emmanuel
Thompson finished with a match-high 15 kills on a .522 attack percentage and added two aces in a four-game victory against Alderson Broaddus on Saturday. In addition, Thompson led all players with nine blocks and contributed 11 kills as Emmanuel rallied from a two-game deficit to beat Daemen in five games on Saturday.

David Parker, UC Irvine
Parker had a combined 25 digs in three victories last week as UC Irvine went undefeated during its season-opening five-game road trip. The libero had a match-high 11 digs in a sweep against No. 14 Ball State and 10 digs four-game win versus George Mason.