Please forgive for going dark the past few weeks. Had a lot going on and just returned from New Zealand. Will explain more later but you may have seen some news items about my “officially” retiring. It’s more that CindyLuis.com won’t be the daily volleyball blog it has been since 2020, or the VolleyShots for more than a decade prior to that. Promise not to totally walk away but won’t be covering every UH volleyball match (Wahine and Warrior) from now on.
Thank you to everyone for being such loyal readers.
As for today, May 30 … Was there any doubt?
Hawai’i setter Jakob Thelle was named both the Lloy Ball and Nicolas Szerszen award winner on Tuesday by OffThe Block while teammate Dimitrious Mouchlias was selected as the Bryan Ivie Award winner.
The Ball Award goes to the nation’s best setter in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season and is named for the former Purdue Fort Wayne All-American and U.S. Olympian setter.
The Szerszen Award is presented to the best non-U.S. born player in NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball during the regular season and is named after the former Ohio State All-American outside attacker who led the Buckeyes to back-to-back NCAA championships.
The Ivie Award goes to the nation’s best opposite and is named after the former USC All-American and U.S. Olympian,
Thelle finished with a nation-best 10.67 assists per game average and guided the Hawai’i offense to the second-best attack percentage in the nation at .367. The senior setter en route to helping the Rainbow Warriors return to the NCAA Tournament finals also was among the national leaders with a 0.34 aces per game average, including having multiple aces in six regular season matches.
The voting committee for the Lloy Ball Award was comprised of more than 30 coaches and media members from around the nation. The top three vote-getters were named finalists.
In awards announced earlier:
Blocker of Year: Simon Torwie, Long Beach State. Warrior Guilherme Voss tied for fifth.
Middle of Year: Merrick McHenry, UCLA. Voss was fourth.
Diversity Award: Jaylen Jasper, Pepperdine. UH’s Chaz Galloway sixth
Server of Year: Hilir Henno, UC Irvine. Thelle was fourth.
Outside Attacker of Year: Jacob Pasteur, Ohio State. UH’s Spyros Chakas was second.
Libero of Year: Mason Briggs, Long Beach State. UH’s Brett Sheward was third.
Passer of Year: Ryan Merk, Penn State. Sheward was third and Galloway tied for eighth.
Thelle, a finalist for the Lloy Ball Award last year, garnered 90 votes – more votes this season than the combined total of the other two finalists. Penn State setter Cole Bogner was the runner-up receiving 32 votes, while UCLA freshman setter Andrew Rowan had 30 votes.
For the Szerszen Award, Thelle finished with 55 votes to beat out runner-up and fellow Warriors Mouchlias by 11 votes. UC Irvine outside attacker Hilir Henno received 30 votes to come in third place.
Mouchlias led the Big West and was sixth in the nation with a 4.03 kills per game average, including having a season-high 25 kills in a victory against Penn State in the NCAA Tournament semifinals. The opposite was in the nation’s top 15 with a career-best .387 attack percentage and had a career-high 119 digs to help Hawai’i win the Big West championship and reach the NCAA Tournament finals.
Mouchlias garnered 56 votes to edge out the runner-up Pepperdine opposite Jaylen Jasper by five votes. Both Penn State opposite Cal Fisher and Loyola opposite Parker Van Buren finished tied for third place with 17 votes.
