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Merrick McHenry now has a national award to go along with a national championship.
Off the Block announced Thursday that a nationwide voting committee selected the UCLA middle attacker as the winner of the 2023 Ryan Millar Award.
The Ryan Millar Award, which is named after the former BYU All-American and U.S. Olympian, is presented to the nation’s best middle attacker in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season.
McHenry led the nation with a career-best .526 attack percentage and had double-digit kills in 11 matches. The middle attacker also had a combined 37 kills and hit .596 in four postseason matches to help the Bruins win their first NCAA championship since 2006.
Along with the offensive performance, McHenry was ninth in the nation with a 1.05 blocks per game average.
The voting committee for the Ryan Millar Award was comprised of more than 30 college men’s volleyball head coaches and volleyball reporters from around the nation. The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the Ryan Millar Award.
McHenry received 90 votes – more than the combined vote total of the other two finalists. Penn State middle attacker Toby Ezeonu garnered 36 votes, while Long Beach State middle attacker Simon Torwie had 18 votes.
This is the eighth year that Off the Block has presented the Ryan Millar Award.
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.
2023 Ryan Millar Award voting results
1. Merrick McHenry, UCLA – 90 votes
2. Toby Ezeonu, Penn State – 36 vote
3. Simon Torwie, Long Beach State – 18 votes
4. Guilherme Voss, Hawai’i – 15 votes
T-5. Bryce Walker, Purdue Fort Wayne – 4 votes
T-5. Rico Wardlow, Grand Canyon – 4 votes
T-7. Michael da la Cruz, North Greenville – 3 votes
T-7. Felix Egharevba, Ball State – 3 votes
T-9. Matthew Gentry, Lincoln Memorial – 2 votes
T-9. Guy Genis, UCLA – 2 vote
T-11. Vanis Buckholz, Ball State – 1 vote
T-11. Nicodemus Meyer, Loyola – 1 vote