NCAA MEN's ALL-Amerlcans
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NCAA ALL-AMERICANS VBM 2013 VOLLEYBALL MAGAZINE GEOFF POWELL JOSEPH SMALZER So. | OH | Lewis Jr. | Opp. | Loyola A First Team All-MIVA selection, Powell The MIVA Player of the Year, Smalzer led led the Flyers with 3.63 kills per set, the Ramblers to their first-ever NCAA NCAA MEn’S racking up 385 kills for the year while National Semifinal match. He led nation in also collecting 12 aces, 173 digs, and service aces (74, 0.65 aces per set) while 75 total blocks. He posted 20 double- also topping the team and ranking sixth in LE digit kills matches, including a season- the country with 3.81 kills per set (430 W P E I S high 26 kills in the season-opener vs. T total kills). A E THL ALL-AMERICANS UC San Diego. H VOTED ON BY COACHES, MEDIA, AND SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTORS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY OLM E T IC E S Compiled by Jen Armson-Dyer S BRIAN COOK DYLAN DAVIS GONZALO QUIROGA KEVIN TILLIE MI K Jr. | OH | Stanford Sr. | MB | UC Santa Barbara Jr. | OH | UCLA Sr. | OH | UC Irvine E R ASAY/RASAY Cook led the Cardinal and ranked fourth Davis was a power in the front row, lead- Ranked eighth in the country in points Tillie earned his second consecutive in the country with 4.01 kills per set (417 ing the country in hitting percentage per set (4.42), Quiroga led the Bruins NCAA All-Tournament team honor after total kills). He reached the 20-kill plateau (.421) and ranking second in total blocks with 3.68 kills per set for a total of helping lead the Anteaters to their second P HOTOANDD six times, including posting a season- (155). A First Team All-MPSF selection, 420 kills. He racked up a team-high 52 straight and fourth overall National Cham- high 24 on two occasions. A First Team Davis posted double-digit kills five times service aces while also picking up 146 pionship title. A First Team All-MPSF All-MPSF selection, Cook posted 22 aces throughout the season and collected 10 digs and 58 total blocks en route to First selection, Tillie recorded 384 kills for the P for the year while also recording 148 digs or more blocks on three occasions. Team All-MPSF honors. E year, good for an average of 3.76 kills per T E E S ED CHAN ED I H GN. and 62 total blocks, both among the top set, while also picking up 34 aces, 177 OLM C HAN C three on his team. digs, and 59 total blocks. OM E S TAYLOR CRABB BEN PATCH TAYLOR SANDER MAURICE TORRES Jr. | OH | Long Beach State Fr. | Opp. | BYU Jr. | OH | BYU Sr. | Opp. | Pepperdine A First Team All-MPSF selection, Crabb The VBM and MPSF Freshman of the Year, The VBM and MPSF Player of the Year, The national leader in points per set recorded double-digit kills in 29 of 32 Patch had a breakout first season with Sander led the Cougars to the NCAA title (5.02), Torres carried the Waves with 417 matches. The only player in the country the Cougars. He posted 418 total kills, in- match for the first time since 2004. He total kills while also adding in 36 aces, to surpass 500 kills for the year (502), cluding a career-high and BYU rally-scor- posted 461 kills on the year, good for 154 digs, and 82 total blocks. The First Crabb averaged 4.18 kills per set, good ing record 35 kills in the comeback win 3.94 kill per set, while also collecting a Team All-MPSF selection posted double- for third in the nation. An all-around at UC Irvine on March 1. He collected 18 team-high 42 aces, 178 digs, and 93 digit kills in 24 of the team’s 26 matches, P E player, he also posted a team-high-tying aces, 126 digs, and a total of 101 blocks, total blocks. He posted double-digit kills P including a season-high 28 on .500 hit- T EPPE E ED CHAN ED CHAN 23 aces, 209 digs, and 72 total blocks. good for second on the team. H in the first 12 matches of the year while ting against Cal State Northridge April 4. OLM also setting both the BYU rally-scoring RD I N E E S and all-time ace records. | Second Team | | THIRD Team | NAME Year POSITION school NAME Year POSITION school BJ Boldog Jr. S Lewis Brennan Anderson So. L Ohio State Michael Brinkley So. L UC Irvine Steven Irvin Jr. OH Stanford Levi Cabral Sr. OH Cal Baptist James Shaw Fr. S Stanford Micah Christenson So. S USC Josue Rivera So. OH BYU Russ Lavaja Sr. MB BYU Cody Kessel So. OH Princeton Collin Mehring Jr. MB UC Irvine Kevin Owens Jr. MB Ball State Evan Mottram Jr. L UCLA Scott Kevorken Jr. MB UC Irvine Connor Olbright Jr. S Long Beach State Matt Leske Sr. MB Ball State Spencer Rowe Jr. MB UCLA Mark Jones Sr. OH George Mason Matt West So. S Pepperdine Aaron Russell So. MB Penn State 36 | VOLLEYBALLMAG.COM | July 2013 July 2013 | VOLLEYBALLMAG.COM | 37 NCAA ALL-AMERICANS VBM awards | | By Megan Kaplon PLAYER OF THE YEAR FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR TAYLOR SANDER, BYU BEN PATCH, BYU Taylor SandER attENDED high school in Hunting- BEN Patch didn’T play high school win over Long Beach State and 12 kills and ton Beach, Calif., the training ground of many a pro beach volleyball. In fact, he probably didn’t even five block assists in the national semifinal volleyball player, and he’s played his share of matches in look like he had much potential when he match against Penn State. He also holds the sand, but right now it’s on the parquet court started at Provo High School as a 5'9" BYU’s rally-scoring era record for kills in a that the 6'4" outside hitter shines as, in Vol- freshman. But he loved the sport. So much match, previously held by Mike Wall, with leyball’s opinion, the top men’s college player so that he didn’t let the fact that Utah the 35 he put down against UC Irvine in in the country. high schools don’t offer volleyball for boys their meeting on March 1. His raw size and Sander has garnered All-American honors stop him from getting his fix. He began jumping ability is shocking to see. Standing each of his three seasons with BYU, and has practicing with the girls’ team, and by his 6'8" with a 41-inch vertical, Patch hits over played with the junior national team since his senior year was contributing his talents to almost all the blocks he faces. junior year of high school. Last year, his inter- the varsity team as an assistant coach. That For many players, especially someone like national experience received a boost when he summer, he joined the junior national Patch who is relatively inexperienced com- ED CHAN competed with the men’s national team at the 2012 team for the first time where he was named pared to some of the SoCal guys who start Pan American Cup and was named MVP of the MVP of the NORCECA Men’s Junior playing on the beach as elementary school tournament. He’s also in the running for the 2016 Continental Championship. students, a single off-season can mean huge Olympic roster. Now standing 6'8" and one of the biggest improvements and increased maturity in “The lessons that you learn out on a Despite not winning the NCAA national champi- hitters in the national championship match, game IQ. But we’ll have to wait until at mission translate into your game when you onship title this May after roaring into the final match BYU’s Ben Patch could be the greatest least the summer of 2015 to see Patch bring come back,” said Patch. as part of the No.1 ranked team, Sander had an excellent freshman to play the game. Certainly, the his talents back to BYU. Later this year, For our part, we can’t wait to see 20-year- season. He led the Cougars in kills (461), aces (42), and 18-year-old right side hitter made a differ- after spending some time training with the old Patch play when he returns. Maybe he’ll digs (178), and helped his team finish their season 26-5. ence for the Cougars this season, contribut- junior national team, Patch will embark on continue his rate of growth and be nearly seven He even holds BYU’s rally-scoring era record for career aces ing 18 kills to their MPSF championship a two-year Mormon mission. feet tall by then. (127) with a year left in his college career. With that number, he’s leading the runner up Ivan Perez by 36 aces, and is set to solidify a record that will likely stand for many years after he COACH OF THE YEAR graduates next spring. Sander’s Cougars will compete again next year, los- DAVID KNIFFIN, UC IRVINE Year. Not to mention the season he spent as Kevin Hambly’s assistant ing only two senior starters in Ryan Boyce and Russell TO ExprEss surprisE at David Kniffin’s success in his first coach with the University of Illinois women’s volleyball team. That Lavaja, as well as freshman Ben Patch to a two-year year as the head coach of the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team season, Hambly and Kniffin led the Fighting Illini to the program’s mission, and we’ll see what a summer’s training with would be to disregard his previous accomplishments.