University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Ma'a and Gyimah Earn National MVB Honors
May 04, 2019 | Men's Volleyball
UCLA middle attacker Daenan Gyimah and setter / hitter Micah Ma'a were each named winners of national awards coordinated by Off the Block and voted on by a committee of national coaches. Gyimah was presented the Ryan Millar Award as the nation's top middle attacker and was also the winner of the inaugural Dain Blanton Diversity Award. Ma'a was voted the co-winner of the National Server of the Year Award.ย
Gyimah, who has now captured the Millar Award for the past two seasons,ย was fifth in the nation with a .435 attack percentage and had double-digit kills in 15 regular season matches while addingย 81 blocks. He registered a career-high 25 kills in a match versus Stanford in which he hit over .500. The Ryan Millar Awardย is named after the former BYU All-American and U.S. Olympian. This is the fourth year that Off the Block has presented of the Ryan Millar Award.ย
The Dain Blanton Diversity Award, which is named after the former Pepperdine All-American and U.S. Olympian, recognizes the top NCAA Division I-II men's volleyball player during the regular season of a minority ethnicity. This is the only national award in college men's volleyball created specifically to celebrate the outstanding individual performances of minority players.ย
The Off the Block National Server of the Year is an annual award that recognizes the top individual serving performance from a NCAA Division I-II men's volleyball player during the regular season. Ma'a, the 2016 recipient of the National Server of the Year, led the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) and was third in the country with a 0.64 aces per setย average this season. The setter/hitter had multiple aces in 17 matches, including a season-high six aces in aย victory against Grand Canyon on March 31. Ma'a shares the award with Mattย Yoshimoto, the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Player of the Year from Lewis University who entered the NCAA Tournament leading the nation with a 0.66 aces per setย average and was tied with Ma'a for top ace total in the country this season (67). This is the seventh year of the National Server of the Year Award.
Off the Block is a national award winning website that launched in 2011 and is the nation's leader in college men's volleyball coverage.
