JERSEY CITY, NJ…Junior outside hitter Justin Brubaker (Telford, PA) of Philadelphia Biblical University was selected as the Western Division Player of the Year for an unprecedented third consecutive season while senior hitter Phil Tully (Huntington Station, NY) of Vassar College earned Metro Division Player of the Year accolades for the second time in three years, and those two players headlined the 2010 North East Collegiate Volleyball Association All-Division teams, in voting conducted within each of the 44-team conference’s five divisions—the CUNYAC, GNAC, Metro, New England and Western. Brubaker is the first player in the history of the conference to be a divisional player of the year three times.
In the GNAC Division senior setter Zack Hansen (Shelton, CT) of Rivier College took home top honors while Endicott College senior middle hitter A.J. Witkofsky (Scotia, NY) claimed the player of the year distinction in the New England Division. Baruch College sophomore outside hitter Sequiel Sanchez (San Sebastian, Puerto Rico), who was the 2009 New England Division Rookie of the Year when playing for Elms College, claimed his second major divisional award of his career , taking the accolades in the CUNYAC.
In all, 73 student-athletes—one shy of the league record—were named either First or Second-Team All-Division this season or earned a major divisional honor. Those players named to a divisional First-Team will be eligible for NECVA All-Conference honors, which will be announced at the league’s annual banquet during this weekend’s NECVA Tournament, on Saturday, April 10 on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
For the fourth consecutive year, Hunter College claims the CUNYAC’s Rookie of the Year with this season’s distinction going to freshman middle blocker Braien Otsla (Brooklyn, NY). Taylor Lindner (Cheshire, CT) is the GNAC Rookie of the Year as a middle hitter. In the closest three-way race for Rookie of the Year in any division in conference history, Vassar College setter John Konow (Chicago, IL) claimed the Metro Division Rookie of the Year. In the New England Division, MIT outside hitter Matt Hohenberger was a unanimous winner while the Western Division had co-Rookies of the Year. SUNYIT middle hitter Jeffrey Coon (Cheektowaga, NY) and D’Youville College opposite Chris Temple (Highwood, IL) shared Western honors.
Allison Stack, in her fourth year as head coach of Baruch College, is CUNYAC Coach of the Year for the first time after leading the Bearcats to a #4 national ranking while becoming the first team in that division’s history to be ranked #1 in the NECVA conference poll. Chris Wright of Emmanuel College is the GNAC Coach of the Year after the fifth-year coach led the Saints to an 11-1 league record and a school-record 26 wins. First-year head coach Antonia Sweet of Vassar College is the Metro Division Coach of the Year. The Brewers went undefeated in the division for the second time in three years and improved their all-time Metro record to 25-2.
Tim Byram of Endicott College and Paul Dill of Massachusetts Institute of Technology were voted the New England Division co-Coaches of the Year. Byram wins the honor for the second straight season after leading the Gulls to back-to-back divisional regular season titles. Dill, who was the divisional winner in 2007, led the Engineers to a 28-7 regular season mark. In the Western Division, Medaille College’s Keith Koch is the Coach of the Year for the first time after guiding the Mavericks to as high as a #2 ranking in the NECVA conference poll, and an unblemished regular season divisional record in his sixth season.
Five players—Zacarias Ripoll-Cid (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) of Hunter, Ivan Andujar (Carolina, Puerto Rico) and Radu Wyrwas (Bialystok, Poland) of Baruch, Michael Townsend (Beaverdam, VA) of Emmanuel, and Witkofsky of Endicott—earned All-Division honors, either First or Second Team, for the fourth time in their four-year careers, with Ripoll-Cid claiming his fourth consecutive First-Team All-CUNYAC distinction. Tully of Vassar was named First-Team All-Metro for the third straight season; the Brewers were not league members during his rookie season.
Four juniors—Brubaker, Pablo Oliveira (Uberlândia, Brazil) of Baruch, Jared Andreozzi (Barrington, RI) of Rivier and Matt Talamantes (Los Angeles, CA) of Newbury College, each took home All-Divisional honors for the third consecutive season to open their careers.
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