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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 week 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: Patrick Paragas, UC Santa Barbara
National Opposite of the Week: Angelos Mandarlis, Ball State
National Outside Attacker of the Week: Sam Kobrine, USC
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Tyler Mitchem, Lewis
National Libero of the Week: Matt Palma, UC San Diego
National Freshman of the Week: Miks Ramanis, BYU
Patrick Paragas, UC Santa Barbara
Paragas had 34 assists and gilded the offense to a .471 attack percentage as UC Santa Barbara swept No. 4/4 Penn State on Friday. The setter also led UC Santa Barbara to a .382 attack percentage in a four-game victory against No. 9/9 Ohio State on Saturday.
Angelos Mandarlis, Ball State
Mandarlis finished with 14 kills on a .385 attack percentage and added a match-high three blocks in an upset sweep against No. 1/1 Hawai’i on Saturday.
Sam Kobrine, USC
Kobrine had a combined 36 kills on .576 attack percentage as No. 10/7 USC swept a home-and-home series against No. 14 UC Irvine last week.
Tyler Mitchem, Lewis
Mitchem had a match-high five blocks and added seven kills on a .357 attack percentage in an upset road victory against No. 2/2 UCLA on Saturday. The middle attacker also led No. 7/8 Lewis with 11 kills on a .556 attack percentage and contributed six blocks in a loss to No. 5/5 Pepperdine on Friday.
Matt Palma, UC San Diego
Palma had a season-high 15 digs in a five-game road loss to NJIT on Friday. The libero also finished with a team-high eight digs in a five-game victory against Princeton.
Miks Ramanis, BYU
Ramanis had back-to-back 20 kill performances in a two-match series sweep against Mount Olive. The freshman in the two matches finished with a combined 45 kills on a .500 attack percentage.