University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Daenan Gyimah Earns OTB National Award
April 22, 2020 | Men's Volleyball
A nationwide voting committee of media and men's volleyball coaches, coordinated by Off the Block, has selected UCLA's Daenan Gyimah as the winner of the 2020 Ryan Millar Award presented to the nation's top middle attacker in its annual national awards presentation conducted on Wednesday evening. Gyimah was also a finalist for the 2020 Dain Blanton Diversity Award. In addition, freshman Mads Kyed Jensen was a finalist for the National Server of the Year Award, after finishing third in the nation in aces per set average.
The Ryan Millar Award is named after the former BYU All-American and U.S. Olympian. It is the third straight year that Gyimah has captured the honor. 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.
Gyimah, who also won the Ryan Millar Award following the 2018 and 2019 seasons, was sixth in the country in 2020 with a .492 attack percentage mark which topped the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). He led all men's volleyball middle attackers nationally with a 2.98 kills per set average this past season. Gyimah ranks as UCLA's all-time career leader in hitting percentage at .483 and is listed fourth in all-time total blocks (431) and sixth in aces (96). 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. Gyimah had multiple aces in four matches, with a high of three versus CSUN (h), and recorded at least 4.0 total blocks in six matches. The other finalists were Hawai'i middle attacker Patrick Gasman, Lewis University middle attacker Tyler Mitchem and UC Irvine middle attacker Scott Stadick.
Kyed Jensen was a finalist for the National Server of the Year award along with Lewis University outside attacker Kyle Bugee and BYU opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez. Kyed Jensen was third in the country with a 0.60 aces per set average and had at least one ace in all but four matches during his freshman season. The setter had at least three aces in eight matches, including a match-high four aces in a victory against its crosstown rival USC.
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. The voting committee was comprised of 25 college men's volleyball head coaches and volleyball reporters from around the nation.
