Hawaii men’s volleyball: NCAA banquet pictures, Beach’s TJ DeFalco again Player of the Year
Long Beach State senior TJ DeFalco was named the AVCA Player of the Year, his second in three seasons. He is the fourth player in Division I-II men’s history to win the honor twice. Jeff Nygaard: UCLA, George Roumain: Pepperdine, Costas Theocharidis: Hawaii are the others.
It is the third consecutive season the award has gone to Long Beach State (first time in history)
DeFalco is one of three players to be a four-time AVCA First-Team All-American (Costas Theocharidis: Hawaii (2000-2003); Erik Shoji: Stanford (2009-2012))
• First in the Big West Conference in aces per set (0.54) and fourth in hitting percentage (.386)
Photos from the banquet:
Hawaii’s Stijn van Tilburg receives his award
Hawaii’s Joe Worsley receives his award
Hawaii’s Gage Worsley receives his award
UCLA’s Micah Ma’a and his third first-team award
The Anastassiades family: From left, Alex, who plays for Long Beach State, parents Beth and Niko, and UH’s James.
Outside the venue
Beautiful setting at Long Beach Convention Center
Any place to view a live stream of the banquet?
DeFalco gets Player of the Year
https://twitter.com/AVCAVolleyball/status/1123781176861319168
I can see why DeFalco may have gotten it over Parapunov and van Tilburg, because he has the most complete game of the three. Scratching my head as to why the man who sets UH to the highest hitting percentage in NCAA men’s history, the most kills and assists per set, was not recognized. Tuaniga got it last year for lesser numbers.
None of the Warriors really care about the award, so hats off to TJ.
My only hope is that Joe goes back to the quick sets to the middle and outsides where the middles would be jumping before Joe even sets the ball. Lewis is huge and UH just needs to be quicker.
Why do you think TJ DeFalco won the NOPY award?
a. He is the best all-around player in the nation (hitting, serving, passing, blocking), and he had incredible numbers in all three matches with UH (plus LBSU beat UH 2 of 3)
b. Worsley split the vote with van Tilburg and/or Parapunov, allowing a non-UH player to win
c. UH and LBSU are clearly equals and a step above anyone else, so AVCA voters split the baby by giving NCOY to Wade (TBA probably) and NPOY to an LBSU player (DeFalco)
What do you think? Please leave out reasons like historical bias against UH or SafeSport impact. Neither has anything to do with DeFalco’s win.
1. there was no live stream. Believe you might find it on YouTube after it was uploaded but haven’t seen a link.
2. see main box
5. As you pointed out, J. Worsley had better numbers than Tuaniga last season. Beach hit record .375 in 18, Hawaii .reset it by nearly 75 points at 442. They could have easily done Co-POY as they did in 96 with Katz and Metzger.
IMHO I do not think DeFalco is the best player in the country. Big West 1st in aces, 4th in hitting percentage.
Again, IMHO I would have voted for Worsley. What he did, especially being undersized, was very impressive.
As for the voting, it was done before the thing on Touzinsky and Wade came out.
Cindy,
In today’s article on BVB, UCLA is cited as being, “third-seeded”. I thought they are the 2nd seed?
Bruins are 2
https://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=49611
new thread up for Thursday with links.