West, Kalmbach Earn National Acclaim
4/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. - Matt West and Parker Kalmbach of the Pepperdine men's volleyball team have received national acclaim from Off the Block, a blog dedicated to the coverage of collegiate men's volleyball. West was voted co-winner of the Lloy Ball Award, while Kalmbach took top honors in the nationwide vote for the Bryan Ivie Award.
The Lloy Ball Award, established in 2014, honors the best setter in the NCAA. The Bryan Ivie Award, in its inaugural year, honors the nation's best opposite side hitter. Honors were also given in several other categories, including best blocker, best server and best outside hitter.
The voting committee for the Off the Block awards was comprised of more than 30 college men's volleyball head coaches and volleyball reporters from around the nation.
West (Seattle, Wash./Shorewood HS) -- a finalist for the Lloy Ball Award in 2014 -- is this season's co-winner, along with Micah Christenson of USC. Both West and Christenson tied for first with 65 votes, followed by Loyola's Peter Hutz with 31 votes.
West, a 2015 All-MPSF first team performer, leads the conference and ranks third in the nation with an 11.25 assists per set average. The two-time All-American has also guided the Waves' offense to the nation's fourth-best attack percentage at .399. Kalmbach (Coto de Caza, Calif./Tesoro HS) was voted the inaugural winner of the Bryan Ivie Award with 14 first-place votes and 64 votes overall, 16 votes ahead of UC Irvine's Zack La Cavera.
The redshirt senior joined West on the All-MPSF first-team roster. Kalmbach is the only player in the conference to average more than 4.0 kills per set, and he has led the MPSF from most of the year with his season average of 4.10. He ranks sixth in kills nationally, while coming in at ninth in points (4.60).
Additionally, Josh Taylor (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) was a top-four finalist for the Karch Kiraly Award, recognizing the best outside hitters from across the country. Aaron Russell of Penn State finished first in the voting.
Taylor rates 18th in the NCAA with a hitting percentage of .355. He also ranks in the top-20 in kills (3.60) and points (4.11).
The Waves, seeded third in the MPSF Tournament, face second-seeded Hawaii in the semifinals on Thursday, April 30. First serve between the two teams is set for 5 p.m. inside the Bren Center in Irvine, Calif.
