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Off the Block announced on Monday the recipients of the National Position Player of the Week Awards and the National Freshman of the Week.
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. In addition, the National Player of the Week is presented to the top freshman from the week in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball.
The Off the Block staff determines each award recipient. 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 and freshman-based weekly awards.
Off the Block at the end of the season 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. It also presents the Freshmen All-American Team at the end of the regular season.
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.
Off the Block Weekly National Award recipients
National Setter of the Week: Connor Walbrecht, UC San Diego
National Opposite of the Week: Billy Fauntleroy, USC
National Outside Attacker of the Week: Camden Gianni, Grand Canyon
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Richie Diedrich, Purdue Fort Wayne
National Libero of the Week: Noam Hannoun, Quincy
National Freshman of the Week: Matteo Miselli, Tusculum
Richie Diedrich, Purdue Fort Wayne
Diedrich had a match-high 10 blocks and added nine kills on a .500 attack percentage in a four-game victory against in-state rival Ball State on Friday. He also led No. 14 Purdue Fort Wayne with five blocks in a four-game win versus Ohio State on Saturday.
Camden Gianni, Grand Canyon
Gianni finished with both a match-high 17 kills on a .467 attack percentage and four aces as No. 13 Grand Canyon defeated No. 8/8 UCLA in four games on Friday. The outside attacker also led all players with 19 kills while hitting .350 in a four-game victory against No. 6/7 Pepperdine on Sunday.
Billy Fauntleroy, USC
Fauntleroy led all players with a career-high 23 kills on a .500 attack percentage in a road sweep against No. 12 Stanford on Thursday. He also had a match-high 14 kills in a three-game loss to No. 2/1 BYU on Saturday.
Noam Hannoun, Quincy
Hannoun had a match-high 14 digs as Quincy lost to No. 5/5 Lewis in three games on Wednesday. The libero also had a match-high 15 digs in a loss against McKendree on Saturday to extend his streak to three consecutive matches with double-digit digs.
Matteo Miselli, Tusculum
Miselli finished with a match-high 25 kills on a .429 attack percentage and added three aces as Tusculum rallied from a two-game deficit to beat Urbana in five games on Saturday. He also led all players with 25 kills while hitting .349 and had a season-high eight digs in a four-game loss to Lees-McRae on Tuesday.
Connor Walbrecht, UC San Diego
Walbrecht had 45 assists and guided the offense to a .357 attack percentage as No. 10/10 UC San Diego swept No. 6/6 UC Irvine on Friday. The setter also added an ace and had a match-high 12 digs in the conference victory.