MVB Duo Earns Freshman All-A Honors
April 20, 2020 | Men's Volleyball
A nationwide voting committee selected UCLA's Mads Kyed Jensen and Cole Ketrzynski to the annual 10-player Off the Block Freshmen All-American Team that was unveiled Monday. The Bruins were the only program to feature multiple players on the squad.
Kyed Jensen was third in the nation with a 0.60 aces per set average and had multiple aces in 10 matches. The setter guided the Bruins to a .302 attack percentage and had at least five kills in 10 matches. Over the weekend, he was named a finalist for Off the Block's National Server of the Year Award.
Ketrzynski was in the top 10 for freshmen with a 3.00 kills/s average and had at least 15 kills in five matches. Among his top performances included a season-high 17 kills on a .400 attack percentage in a non-conference victory against Ohio State. The 17 kills was the most by a Bruin freshmen player since 2016 and his .296 hitting percentage rated second among the nation's first-year performers this season.
A voting committee of 21 men's volleyball coaches and volleyball media members determined the Freshmen All-American Team. A player making the Freshmen All-American Team had to be among the top 10 vote-getters and appear on at least one-fourth of all the fully submitted voting ballots.
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. Off the Block annually presents college men's volleyball national awards to recognize outstanding individual performances in the sport. Over the weekend, UCLA's Daenan Gyimah was named a finalist for the Dain Blanton Diversity Award which honors the nation's top player coming from an minority ethnicity and the Ryan Millar Award which recognizes the nation's best middle attacker. He captured both awards from Off the Block last season and has won the Ryan Millar Award the past two seasons. The 2020 award-winners will be announced on Wednesday.
Gyimah ranked sixth in the NCAA in hitting percentage (.492) in 2020 and led all men's volleyball middle attackers with a 2.98 kills per set average. This past season, he had double-digit kills in 10 matches, with a season-high of 16 against UC San Diego (h), while hitting at least .400 in 11 matches.
2020 Off the Block Freshman All-America Team
Setter: Kevin Kauling, Lewis
Setter: Mads Kyed Jensen, UCLA
Setter: Michael Wright, Ohio State
Opposite: Cole Ketrzynski, UCLA
Opposite: Julian Meissner, NJIT
Outside attacker: Camden Gianni, Grand Canyon
Outside attacker: Matteo Miselli, Tusculum
Outside attacker: Cole Schlothauer, Loyola
Middle attacker: Guilherme Voss, Hawai'i
Libero: Mason Briggs, Long Beach State
