Three Waves All-Americans; Dvorak Newcomer of the Year
5/3/2021 8:30:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
MALIBU, California – Bryce Dvorak of the Pepperdine men's volleyball team became the third Wave ever to receive the National Newcomer of the Year award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association, while he, Spencer Wickens and Austin Wilmot received All-American recognition today.
Dvorak follows in the footsteps of Sean Rooney (2002) and Jonathan Winder (2005) in winning the AVCA's newcomer award. Dvorak also received All-American honorable mention status.
Wickens and Wilmot were named to the AVCA All-American second team. It's the first time that the Waves have had multiple players earn at least second team status from the AVCA since 2015.
Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS), a freshman setter, has started all 19 matches in his first season. He was also named to the All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation second team and to the MPSF All-Freshman team. He's averaging 9.22 assists, and 1.26 digs and a team-high 0.32 service aces. He had season highs of 47 assists and 17 digs in a win against Grand Canyon (3/27), and 47 assists again against Stanford (4/22).
Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS), a senior, is in his first year starting at outside hitter after being a libero or defensive specialist the previous three. He's averaging team highs of 3.22 kills and 1.71 digs while hitting .330. He made the All-MPSF first team and received the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week award three times this season, more than any other player. He had 23 kills against Concordia in the season opener (1/25), the most by a Wave this year, and has had a team-best 13 matches with double-figure kills.
Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./UC Irvine), a senior middle blocker, is now a two-time All-American after receiving honorable mention status in 2020. He made the All-MPSF second team for the second straight year. He ranks 11th nationally in hitting percentage (.431) and is 12th in blocks (1.07). He averages 2.12 kills per set. Wilmot was the only MPSF player to receive the Defensive Player of the Week award twice this season. He had a season-high 17 kills against Grand Canyon (3/27) and his nine blocks against UCLA (3/13) is tied for the most by any MPSF player this year.
Wickens (March 30) and Wilmot (March 16) both received AVCA National Player of the Week honors earlier this season.
In other national awards recently given out, Dvorak and libero Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS) made the Off the Block Freshman All-American team.
#5 Pepperdine faces #3 UC Santa Barbara in an NCAA Championships opening-round match at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT on Tuesday (May 4). The tournament is being held at Ohio State's Covelli Center. The match will be streamed online by BTN Plus.
Dvorak follows in the footsteps of Sean Rooney (2002) and Jonathan Winder (2005) in winning the AVCA's newcomer award. Dvorak also received All-American honorable mention status.
Wickens and Wilmot were named to the AVCA All-American second team. It's the first time that the Waves have had multiple players earn at least second team status from the AVCA since 2015.
Dvorak (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar HS), a freshman setter, has started all 19 matches in his first season. He was also named to the All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation second team and to the MPSF All-Freshman team. He's averaging 9.22 assists, and 1.26 digs and a team-high 0.32 service aces. He had season highs of 47 assists and 17 digs in a win against Grand Canyon (3/27), and 47 assists again against Stanford (4/22).
Wickens (Irondequoit, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit HS), a senior, is in his first year starting at outside hitter after being a libero or defensive specialist the previous three. He's averaging team highs of 3.22 kills and 1.71 digs while hitting .330. He made the All-MPSF first team and received the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week award three times this season, more than any other player. He had 23 kills against Concordia in the season opener (1/25), the most by a Wave this year, and has had a team-best 13 matches with double-figure kills.
Wilmot (Valley Village, Calif./UC Irvine), a senior middle blocker, is now a two-time All-American after receiving honorable mention status in 2020. He made the All-MPSF second team for the second straight year. He ranks 11th nationally in hitting percentage (.431) and is 12th in blocks (1.07). He averages 2.12 kills per set. Wilmot was the only MPSF player to receive the Defensive Player of the Week award twice this season. He had a season-high 17 kills against Grand Canyon (3/27) and his nine blocks against UCLA (3/13) is tied for the most by any MPSF player this year.
Wickens (March 30) and Wilmot (March 16) both received AVCA National Player of the Week honors earlier this season.
In other national awards recently given out, Dvorak and libero Trey Cole (Long Island, N.Y./Connetquot HS) made the Off the Block Freshman All-American team.
#5 Pepperdine faces #3 UC Santa Barbara in an NCAA Championships opening-round match at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT on Tuesday (May 4). The tournament is being held at Ohio State's Covelli Center. The match will be streamed online by BTN Plus.
Players Mentioned
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