Follow
The closest race in the history of the Off the Block National Server of the Year has ended in a tie.
Off the Block announced Friday that nationwide voting committee selected UCLA setter Micah Ma’a and Lewis setter Matt Yoshimoto as the 2019 Co-National Server of the Year.
Both Ma’a and Yoshimoto receive 40 votes from the award’s voting committee that was comprised of college men’s volleyball coaches and media members.
The Off the Block National Server of the Year is an annual award that recognizes the top individual serving performance from a NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball player during the regular season.
Ma’a, the 2016 recipient of the National Server of the Year, led the MPSF and was third in the country with a 0.64 aces per game average this season. The setter had multiple aces in 17 matches, including a season-high six aces in a four-game victory against Grand Canyon on March 31.
Yoshimoto, the MIVA Player of the Year, entered the NCAA Tournament leading the nation with a 0.66 aces per game average and was tied with Ma’a for nation-best 67 aces. He also had multiple aces in 18 matches, including five aces in conference sweeps against both Purdue Fort Wayne and Ohio State.
The voting committee for the National Server of the Year was comprised of about 20 members. The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the National Server of the Year.
The other finalist CSUN outside attacker Dimitar Kalchev finished in third place with seven votes.
This is the seventh year that Off the Block has presented the National Server of the Year. Previous winners of the award are former Loyola All-American opposite Joseph Smalzer in 2013 and 2014, former Loyla All-American outside attacker Thomas Jaeschke in 2015, Ma’a in 2016, former Ohio State All-American outside attacker Nicolas Szerszen in 2017 and Penn State opposite Jalen Penrose in 2018.
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.
2019 National Server of the Year voting results
T-1. Micah Ma’a, UCLA — 40 points
T-1. Matt Yoshimoto, Lewis — 40 points
3. Dimitar Kalchev, CSUN — 7 points
4. Rado Parapunov, Hawai’i — 6 points
T-5. Evan Cory, Lincoln Memorial — 5 points
T-5. TJ DeFalco, Long Beach State — 5 points
T-7. Kyle Ensing, Long Beach State — 4 points
T-7. Gabi Garcia Fernandez, BYU — 4 points
9. David Wieczorek, Pepperdine — 3 points
10. Joel Schneidmiller, UC Irvine — 2 points
T-11. Jake Hanes, Ohio State — 1 point
T-11. Kendall Ratter, Princeton — 1 point