Off the Block | offtheblockblog.wordpress.com | Telephone: 972-345-6618 | Email: [email protected] Fan Choice Player of the Year contest starts this week For immediate release May 21, 2012 Sixty-five players have been selected for the Off the Block Fan Choice Player of the Year tournament field. The Fan Choice Player of the Year recognizes the best individual performances from NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball players during the season and gives volleyball fans from around the world the chance to determine who was the best player. The contest is a bracket-style seven-round tournament matching up the nation’s best players against each with the winner being determined through online voting on the Off the Block website, offtheblockblog.com. The tournament will begin at 12:01 a.m. (EST) Tuesday with the play-in match between Penn State middle attacker Aaron Russell and UCLA outside attacker Gonzalo Quiroga. The 32 first-round matches will then begin on Wednesday and Thursday. Every round will last one day with the polls closing at 11 p.m. (EST). The player with the most votes when the polls close will advance to the next round. Several volleyball organizations give a National Player of the Year award at the end of each season. However, the Off the Block Fan Choice Player of the Year is the only player of the year award solely determined by the fans. Off the Block selected and seeded the tournament field using several factors, including a player’s performance during the season, all-conference and All-American honors, level of competition played throughout the season and how the player’s team fared. Each team in the EIVA, MIVA, MPSF, the Conference Carolinas and teams in the process of transition from the NAIA to Division II received one automatic bid to the tournament. Off the Block also award 30 at-large bids to complete the 65-player field. Players selected to the tournament were placed into four regions. Each region — the Matt Anderson Region, the Ryan Millar Region, the Reid Priddy Region and the Clay Stanley Region — was named after a member of the U.S. National Men’s Volleyball Team, which will compete at the upcoming Olympics in London. This is the second year of the Off the Block Fan Choice Player of the Year. Loyola outside attacker Mike Bunting won the 2011 Off the Block Fan Choice Player of the Year as more than 15,000 votes were cast throughout the event. Below is a schedule of the tournament, the first-round match-ups and player bios. -30- OFF THE BLOCK FAN CHOICE PLAYER OF THE YEAR TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE Tuesday, May 22: Play-in match Wednesday, May 23: First-round of Matt Anderson and Ryan Millar regions Thursday, May 24: First-round of Clay Stanley and Reid Priddy regions Firday, May 25: Second-round of Matt Anderson and Ryan Millar regions Saturday, May 26: Second-round of Clay Stanley and Reid Priddy regions Sunday, May 27: Regional semifinals Tuesday, May 29: Regional finals Wednesday, May 30: National semifinals Thursday, May 31: National championship *Polls close at 11 p.m. (EST) for every round OFF THE BLOCK FAN CHOICE PLAYER OF THE YEAR FIRST ROUND MATCHES MATT ANDERSON REGION (MATCHES ON WEDNESDAY) No. 1 seed Carson Clark — UC Irvine vs. No. 16 seed Steven Battaglia — Quincy No. 8 seed Ben Ponnet — Grand Canyon vs. No. 9 seed Piotr Dabrowski — George Mason No. 4 seed Joe Sunder — Penn State vs. No. 13 seed Carl Eberts — UC San Diego No. 5 seed Henry Cassiday — USC vs. No. 12 seed Taylor Crabb — Long Beach No. 3 seed Maurice Torres — Pepperdine vs. No. 14 seed Efrain Negron — Lees-McRae No. 6 seed Steven Hunt — Hawai’i vs. No. 11 seed Robert Feathers — USC No. 7 seed Mike Bunting — Loyola vs. No. 10 seed Robb Stowell — BYU No. 2 seed Brand Lawson — Stanford vs. No. 15 seed D.J. White — Harvard RYAN MILLAR REGION (MATCHES ON WEDNESDAY) No. 1 seed Taylor Sander — BYU vs. No. 16 seed Brandon Rorer — King No. 8 seed Alex Kane — St. Francis vs. No. 9 seed Brian Cook — Stanford No. 4 seed Evan Barry — Stanford vs. No. 13 seed Taylor Hughes — Pacific No. 5 seed Steven Shandrick — USC vs. No. 12 seed Matt Gallik — Lewis No. 3 seed Thomas Amberg — UCLA vs. No. 14 seed Michael Kvidahl — George Mason No. 6 seed Cody Kessel — Princeton vs. No. 11 seed Matt Leske — Ball State No. 7 seed Ivan Matos — IPFW vs. No. 10 seed Miles Evans — UC Santa Barbara No. 2 seed Futi Tavana — BYU vs. No. 15 seed Scott Warren — Limestone CLAY STANLEY REGION (MATCHES ON THURSDAY) No. 1 seed Tony Ciarelli — USC vs. No. 16 seed Zach McCalla — Barton No. 8 seed Javier Caceres — Pacific vs. No. 9 seed Josh Taylor — Pepperdine No. 4 seed Wes Dunlap — UCLA vs. No. 13 seed Jack Mitchell — Lindenwood No. 5 seed Joseph Smalzer — Loyola vs. *No. 12 seed Aaron Russell — Penn State *No. 12 seed Gonzalo Quiroga — UCLA *Play-in match No. 3 seed Erik Shoji — Stanford vs. No. 14 seed Adam Miracle — Mount Olive No. 6 seed Edgardo Goas — Penn State vs. No. 11 seed Trent Bruns — Grand Canyon No. 7 seed Joe Kauliakamoa — BYU vs. No. 10 seed Quentin Moore — Pfeiffer No. 2 seed Kevin Tillie — UC Irvine vs. No. 15 seed Aaron McCalmont — Cal Baptist REID PRIDDY REGION (MATCHES ON THURSDAY) No. 1 seed Shawn Sangrey — Ohio State vs. No. 16 seed Austin Pappas — Rutgers-Newark No. 8 seed Russell Lavaja — BYU vs. No. 9 seed Brady Smith — NJIT No. 4 seed Micah Christenson — USC vs. No. 13 seed Nick Hunt — Sacred Heart No. 5 seed BJ Boldog — Lewis vs. No. 12 seed Julius Hoefer — Cal State Northridge No. 3 seed Jay Petty — Lewis vs. No. 14 seed Sean Daley — Pacific No. 6 seed Jeremy Dejno — UC Irvine vs. No. 11 seed Matt West — Pepperdine No. 7 seed Matt Jones — Harvard vs. No. 10 seed Peter Jasaitis — Loyola No. 2 seed Kyle Caldwell — UCLA vs. No. 15 seed Dan McDonnell — UC Irvine OFF THE BLOCK FAN CHOICE PLAYER OF THE YEAR PLAYER BIOS CLAY STANLEY REGION No. 1 seed Tony Ciarelli – USC, outside attacker Ciarelli, the 2012 National Player of the Year and MPSF Player of the Year, was fourth in the nation with a 4.13 kills per game average. The senior also led the nation with 62 aces as the Trojans won the MPSF regular season championship and reached the Final Four for the second consecutive season. No. 2 seed Kevin Tillie -- UC Irvine, outside attacker Tillie in his first season in the NCAA after transfer from a Canadian college was 11th in the nation with a 3.80 kills per game average. The junior First-Team All-American had a match-high 21 kills in a NCAA semifinals victory against Penn State and the Anteaters two days later won the national championship. No. 3 seed Erik Shoji – Stanford, libero Shoji, the Stanford career leader in digs, led the MPSF and was third in the nation with a 2.69 digs per game average. The senior also set a record being named a First-Team All-American for four years and helped the Cardinal advance to the MPSF Tournament championship match. No. 4 seed Wes Dunlap – UCLA, middle attacker Dunlap led the nation with a .461 attack percentage -- the only player in the nation to have more than a .400 attack percentage -- and was in the nation's top 30 with a 1.00 blocks per game average. The senior also was a Second-Team All-American selection as UCLA ended the regular season in fifth place and lost in the MPSF Tournament quarterfinals. No. 5 seed Joseph Smalzer -- Loyola Smalzer led the MIVA and was sixth in the nation with a 0.49 aces per game average, while also finishing the year in nation's top 25 with a 3.44 kills per game average. He also earned Second-Team All-American honors and National Player of the Week honors as he helped led the Ramblers to the MIVA Tournament semifinals. No. 6 Edgardo Goas -- Penn State, setter Goas led the EIVA and was third in the nation with an 11.38 assists per game average, while guiding the Nittany Lions' offense to a conference-best .318 attack percentage. The senior also was named to the First-Team All-EIVA as Penn State won the EIVA championship and reached the Final Four for the 14th consecutive year. No. 7 seed Joe Kauliakamoa – BYU, setter Kauliakamoa was third in the MPSF and fourth in the nation with an 11.11 assists per game average, while guiding BYU's offense to the nation's third best attack percentage at .323. The senior was a Second-Team All-MPSF selection as BYU finished tied for second place in the MPSF and reached the conference tournament semifinals. No. 8 seed Javier Caceres – Pacific, libero Caceres was second in the MPSF and seventh in the nation with a 2.50 digs per game average. The sophomore also was named to the Second-Team All-MPSF as the Tigers ended the season tied for 10th place in the MPSF and missed the conference tournament. No. 9 seed Josh Taylor – Pepperdine, setter Taylor was in the nation's top 20 with a 3.52 kill per game average. He also was selected to the All-MPSF Freshman Team and helped lead Pepperdine to seventh place in the MPSF and the conference tournament quarterfinals. No. 10 seed Quentin Moore – Pfeiffer, outside attacker Moore, the Co-Conference Carolina Player of the Year, was second in the conference and in the nation's top 25 with a 3.44 kills per game average.