Division I-II Player of the Year | Division III Player of the Year | NAIA Player of the Year
AVCA Division I-II Men's National Player of the Year
Taylor Crabb - Long Beach State University
Los Angeles, Calif. (May 1, 2013) - The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is pleased to announce that Long Beach State University outside hitter Taylor Crabb has been named the 2013 AVCA Men's Division I-II National Player of the Year.
The presentation was made at the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship Banquet on the campus of the UCLA. The banquet was held in conjunction with the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship, to be played May 2 and 4 at Pauley Pavilion on UCLA's campus.
Crabb, a native of Honolulu, Hawai'i, played a crucial role in leading Long Beach State to a 24-8 record, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament runner-up, and a top-5 ranking in the AVCA Coaches Poll since February 4.
He currently sits at No. 3 in the nation in kills per set at 4.18, No. 4 in points per set at 4.71 and is in the top-10 with a .353 hitting percentage. Defensively, his 209 digs place him second on the team to go along with his 72 total blocks.
Crabb's consistency recording eight 20-plus kill performances led the 49ers to a third-seed in the MPSF Tournament, where he recorded 50 kills in three matches. His best two performances came in the final two, smashing 23 kills hitting .362 in the semifinals against No. 2 seed UC Irvine then nailed another 16 with nearly a .400 attack percentage in the loss to No. 1 BYU in the MPSF Championship Match.
The first-time AVCA All-American finishes his third year with 1,097 career kills. His other career numbers include 1,245.5 points, 577 digs, 158 blocks and 56 service aces.
Crabb becomes the third 49er to be named AVCA National Player of the Year after Brent Hilliard won it in 1992 and Paul Lotman co-won it with Penn State's Matt Anderson in 2008.
2013: Taylor Crabb
2012: Tony Ciarelli (USC)
2011: Murphy Troy (USC)
2010: Kawika Shoji (Stanford)
2009: Paul Carroll (Pepperdine)
2008: Matt Anderson (Penn State), Paul Lotman (Long Beach State)
2007: Jonathan Winder (Pepperdine)
2006: Jayson Jablonsky (UC Irvine)
2005: Sean Rooney (Pepperdine)
2004: Carlos Moreno (BYU)
2003: Costas Theocharidis (Hawai'i)
2002: Brad Keenan (Pepperdine)
2001: Costas Theocharidis (Hawai'i)
2000: Donald Suxho (USC)
1999: George Roumain (Pepperdine)
1998: George Roumain (Pepperdine)
1997: Ivan Contreras (Penn State)
1996: Yuval Katz (Hawai'i), Stein Metzger (UCLA)
1995: Jeff Nygaard (UCLA)
1994: Jeff Nygaard (UCLA)
1993: Canyon Ceman (Stanford)
1992: Brent Hilliard (Long Beach State)
1991: Bryan Ivie (USC)
2013 AVCA Men's Division III National Player of the Year
EJ Wells-Spicer - Nazareth College
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 25, 2013) - The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is proud to announce that Nazareth College senior setter EJ Wells-Spicer has been named the 2013 Men's Division III National Player of the Year.
The presentation was made at the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship Banquet in Rochester, New York. The banquet was held in conjunction with the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, to be played April 26-28 on the campus of Nazareth College.
The Nazareth Golden Flyers have had an unprecedented year in 2013, starting this season's campaign with 31 consecutive victories and an eventual United Volleyball Conference Championship under the senior leadership of Wells-Spicer. In the UVC Championship Match against No. 6 Stevens, he accumulated 39 assists in the sweep in addition to the 94 assists he tallied in the previous two matches of the UVC Tournament.
Heading into the NCAA Tournament, the Phelps, NY native leads the nation averaging 11.55 assists per set. He helped set fellow AVCA All-Americans Robert Kraft (.488 hitting percentage), Luke Lawatsch (.484) and Tim Zyburt (.320) to fantastic years. Overall as a team, the Golden Flyers hit .327 ending regular season play as No. 1 in overall assists per set at 12.83.
The two-time Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week enters the 2013 postseason with an astounding 111-29 overall record in his four years, including a Molten Division III National Championship in 2011. Earlier this week, Wells-Spicer was one of four Nazareth players to be named AVCA All-Americans, but one distinction he earns all to himself is being the first player in program history to be named the AVCA Player of the Year.
AVCA Division III Men's National Player of the Year
2013: EJ Wells-Spicer, Nazareth College
2012: Randy Hansen, Carthage College
2011 Cal Palumbo, Springfield College
2010 AJ Nally, Springfield College
2009 Andrew Cranford, Stevens Institute of Technology
2008 Bryan Shires, UC Santa Cruz
2007 Matt Werle, Juniata College
2006 Chris Schmidt, New York University
2005 Ricky Ziegler, Juniata College
2004 Kenny Eiser, Juniata College
2013 AVCA NAIA Men's National Player of the Year
Naseri Tumanuvao - Concordia University Irvine
LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 24, 2013) - The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is proud to announce Concordia University Irvine opposite Naseri Tumanuvao as the 2013 NAIA Men's National Player of the Year.
The junior All-American had a tremendous year for the Eagles, leading them to their first NAIA National Championship and an overall record of 25-7 that is also their first year competing in men's volleyball. In the championship match, Tumanuvao led the team with 17 kills hitting .344 with another four digs over No. 1 seed Park University.
He had a tremendous National Tournament, earning All-Tournament Team honors after leading all players with an astounding .472 hitting percentage. He began the tournament with a 15-kill performance attacking at a .571 clip over St. Ambrose and never looked back, finishing with an additional 33 kills.
Overall in the 2013 season, the California native led the team averaging 3.50 kills per set, which is also good for a top-10 national ranking. Defensively, he tallied 130 digs and 67 total blocks. As a team, Concordia-Irvine ranked in the top-five nationally in hitting percentage (.290), kills per set (12.6), and assists per set (12.0).
Other accolades garnered by the Eagles in 2013 are head coach Trevor Johnson being named the MAMVIC and NAIA Coach of the Year as well as All-Tournament Coach, Dillon Auxier named Tournament MVP and Mark Metrakos joined Tumanuvao as an AVCA NAIA All-American.
