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The most outstanding players from Sacred Heart during this decade are earning a college men’s volleyball honor.
Off the Block announced on Saturday the seven players selected to the Sacred Heart All-Decade Starting Lineup presented by Off the Block.
The All-Decade Starting Lineup recognizes the best players to compete with a team since 2010. Similar to the starting lineup for a match, the All-Decade honor is comprised of a setter, opposite and libero along with two outside attackers and middle attackers.
The Off the Block staff determined the All-Decade Starting Lineup using a variety of factors including career statistical performance and the team’s overall success when a player was a member of the program.
This is also part of a series from Off the Block to celebrate the end of the decade in college men’s volleyball. Off the Block throughout the rest of 2019 will release an All-Decade Starting Lineup for every NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball team.
Sacred Heart had three winning seasons during the decade. The Pioneers in 2017 under coach Greg Walker also had a top-four finish in the EIVA and advanced to the EIVA Tournament semifinals.
Off the Block is a national award winning website that was established in 2011 and is the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball.
Sacred Heart All-Decade Starting Lineup presented by Off the Block
Setter: Tim Sadowski
Opposite: Christopher DeLucie
Outside attacker: Enzo MacKenzie
Outside attacker: Austin Arcala
Middle attacker: Taylor Bloomquist
Middle attacker: Rob Chatterton
Libero: Joshua Ayzenberg
Austin Arcala (2014-16)
Awards and honors: 2016 First-Team All-EIVA
Arcala as a senior was third in the EIVA and in the nation’s top 15 with a 3.72 kills per game average, including having a career-high 22 kills while hitting .459 in a sweep against Harvard. He also ended that season fourth in the conference averaging a career-best 0.34 aces per game. The prior season Arcala finished in the conference’s top 15 with a 2.58 kills per game average and had double-digit kills in 12 matches.
Joshua Ayzenberg (2015-18)
Awards and honors: 2016 Second-Team All-EIVA; 2017 Erik Shoji Award finalist; 2017 All-American honorable mention; 2017 First-Team All-EIVA; 2018 First-Team All-EIVA
Ayzenberg concluded his college career with back-to-back seasons of having the second-best dig average in the nation. The libero in 2017 had a 2.92 digs per game average that was highlighted by a season-high 22 digs in an upset victory against Penn State. Ayzenberg the following year as a senior finished with a career-best 2.95 digs per game average and had double-digit digs in 15 matches. In addition, Ayzenberg set the Sacred Heart career record with 775 digs — more than 200 digs than any other player in program history.
Taylor Bloomquist (2016-19)
Awards and honors: N/A
Bloomquist had more than a .300 attack percentage and 100 kills in each of his four seasons at Sacred Heart. The middle attacker also had one of the nation’s top 25 attack percentages for three consecutive seasons, including hitting a career-best .340 in 2017. Along with his offensive performance, Bloomquist led Sacred Heart in blocks for four straight seasons. Among his top defensive seasons occurred in 2016 when he led the EIVA and set the third-best single-season mark in program history with a 1.19 blocks per game average.
Rob Chatterton (2018 – present)
Awards and honors: N/A
Chatterton finished last season in the nation’s top 20 and fourth in the conference with a 1.04 blocks per game average. The middle attacker also led the Pioneers with a 339 attack percentage and hit more than .500 in four conference matches. Chatterton in his first season at Sacred Heart after transferring from Lindenwood had a conference-best .348 attack percentage and a career-best 2.02 kills per game average.
Christopher DeLucie (2014-17)
Awards and honors: 2016 Second-Team All-EIVA; 2017 First-Team All-EIVA
DeLucie was in the conference’s top five averaging both 3.36 kills per game and 0.39 aces per game during his senior season as he helped lead Sacred Heart to its only EIVA Tournament appearance since the conference reduced the event to a four-team field. That season DeLucie also had a combined 32 kills on a .369 attack percentage in two regular season upset victories against Penn State — the program’s only two all-time wins versus the Nittany Lions. Along with his senior season, DeLucie in 2016 was fourth in the EIVA with a 3.67 kills per game average and among the conference leaders hitting a career-best .284.
Enzo Mackenzie (2011-15)
Awards and honors: 2011 Second-Team All-EIVA; 2015 First-Team All-EIVA
MacKenzie set Sacred Heart career records with both 1,240 kills and 138 aces. The outside attacker finished three seasons in the EIVA top 10 for kills, including being third in the conference and sixth in the nation with a career-best 4.37 kills per game average in 2011. In addition, MaKenzie concluded his college career holding three of the program’s top-five spots for aces in a single season. He also was ninth in the nation with a career-best 0.44 aces per game average during his senior season.
Tim Sadowski (2008-11)
Awards and honors: N/A
The four-year starting setter was among the conference leaders in both assists and aces during his junior and senior seasons.Sadowski in 2010 finished fifth in the conference with an 11.34 assists per game average and was sixth in the EIVA averaging a career-best 0.41 aces per game. He also contributed defensively that season having career bests with a 0.94 blocks per game average and 165 digs. Sadowski as a senior was fourth in the EIVA averaging 10.45 assists per game and in the conference’s top 10 contributing a 0.31 aces per game average. In addition, Sadowski that year helped lead the Pioneers to their second straight winning season.