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Six college men’s volleyball players have earned national awards for being the best at their position.
Long Beach State’s Nick Amado, St. Francis’ Michael Fisher, Barton’s Angelos Mandilaris, Hawai’i’s Parapunov and Joe Worsley and UCLA’s Cole Pender were selected on Monday 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 Co-National Opposite of the Week: Angelos Mandilaris, Barton
Off the Block Co-National Opposite of the Week: Rado Parapunov, Hawai’i
Off the Block National Outside Attacker of the Week: Michael Fisher, St. Francis
Off the Block National Middle Attacker of the Week: Nick Amado, Long Beach State
Off the Block National Libero of the Week: Cole Pender, UCLA
Joe Worsley, Hawai’i
Worsely guided the No. 2/2 Hawai’i offense to more than a .400 attack percentage in both of the team’s road victories against No. 3/3 UC Irvine during the weekend. In the series-opening sweep, Worsely had 45 assists and helped the team hit .411. He also led the Rainbow Warriors to a .529 attack percentage and defensively added five digs in a sweep versus the Anteaters on Saturday.
Rado Parapunov, Hawai’i
Parapunov finished with a combined 34 kills on a .455 attack percentage in a two-match series sweep against No. 3/3 UC Irvine, including having a season-high 18 kills in the opener on Friday. He also had six digs in that sweep on Friday and ended the series with a combined eight blocks.
Angelos Mandilaris, Barton
Mandilaris led all players with a career-high 32 kills on a .674 attack percentage as Barton beat Belmont Abbey in four games on Friday to remain in sole possession of first place in the ConfCarolinas. He also added four digs and three blocks in the victory.
Michael Fisher, St. Francis
Fisher led all players with 19 kills while hitting .500 and had six digs in a sweep against NJIT on Friday. He also had a match-high 18 kills on a .517 attack percentage and added two blocks as St. Francis beat first-place Princeton in four games on Saturday to extend its EIVA winning streak to four matches.
Nick Amado, Long Beach State
Amado led all players with a season-high nine blocks while adding eight kills and zero errors on a .889 attack percentage in a sweep against No. 11 CSUN on Saturday. He also had seven kills and zero errors while hitting .875 and added four blocks in the series-opening sweep against CSUN on Friday.
Cole Pender, UCLA
Pender led all players with a season-high 12 digs as No. 6/6 UCLA rallied from a two-game deficit to beat No. 4/4 Pepperdine in five games on Wednesday to move into sole possession of first place in the MPSF. The freshman also added five digs in a four-game conference road victory against Grand Canyon on Friday.