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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: Noah Platfoot, Ohio State
National Opposite of the Week: Simon Gallas, USC
National Outside Attacker of the Week: Christian Janke, Grand Canyon
National Middle Attacker of the Week: Liam Schroeder, USC
National Libero of the Week: Grady Hoffman, Fairleigh Dickinson
National Freshman of the Week: Alex Nikolov, Long Beach State
Noah Platfoot, Ohio State
Platfoot had a match-high four blocks and guided the offense to a .493 attack percentage as Ohio State swept Lindenwood on Friday. The setter also had 36 assists and helped Ohio State hit .451 in a sweep against Quincy on Thursday.
Simon Gallas, USC
Gallas finished with a match-high 28 kills on a .578 attack percentage as USC defeated Pepperdine in four games on Friday. The opposite also had 16 kills in a five-game loss to Pepperdine on Wednesday to open the home-and-home series.
Christian Janke, Grand Canyon
Janke set a single-match program record with 31 kills on a .587 attack percentage as Grand Canyon rallied from a two-game deficit to beat BYU in five games and complete the two-mach series sweep. The outside attacker also had a match-high 21 kills on a .606 attack percentage in the series opener on Friday.
Liam Schroeder, USC
Schroeder had a combined 18 kills on a .615 attack percentage as USC split a home-and-home series with Pepperdine last week. The middle attacker also had a combined 12 blocks, including a match-high eight matches in the series opener.
Grady Hoffman, Fairleigh Dickinson
Hoffman had a combined 37 digs in a two-match series sweep against Alderson Broaddus during the weekend. The libero also finished with a match-high 12 digs in a four-game loss to George Mason on Friday.
Alex Nikolov, Long Beach State
Nikolov had a match-high five aces and led Long Beach State with nine kills in a sweep against Stanford on Friday. The freshman served five consecutive aces late in the second game to erase a three-point deficit and help close out the game on a 7-0 run.