The AVCA All-American teams have been announced. Let’s take a look at them.
First team
Taylor Averill — (MB, RS Jr, Hawaii)
Michael Brinkley — (L, Jr, UC Irvine)
Micah Christenson — (S, Jr, USC)
Brian Cook — (OH, Sr, Stanford)
Taylor Crabb — (OH, Sr, Long Beach State)
Thomas Jaeschke — (OH, Soph, Loyola)
Geoff Powell — (OH, RS Jr, Lewis)
Gonzalo Quiroga — (OH, Sr, UCLA)
Aaron Russell — (OH, Jr, Penn State)
Taylor Sander — (OH, Sr, BYU)
It’s interesting how this list is both more diverse than last season’s first team, and not. Last season’s first team was an MPSF whitewash. In geographic terms, this year’s is a lot more diverse. It would have to be, with a Midwest team leading the national rankings essentially the entire season. Jaeschke has been very much the heart and soul of that team, doing a little bit of everything statistically, and would be a solid prospect for National Player of the Year if he weren’t an underclassman. Sorry, but that’s probably what will hold him back from it.
Averill exploded in 2014, figuring as one of the national leaders in both blocking and attacking efficiency after he spent his first two years in Hawaii without a consistent playing position (he saw time at opposite hitter in addition to middle, and was actually recruited as a setter). You never want to put it too much on one guy’s shoulders, but without him being as good as he was this year, the Rainbow Warriors wouldn’t have even been in the same hemisphere as a playoff berth, when as it happened they only just missed it. Can’t say I heard about Brinkley a whole lot this season, but that’s probably a good sign for a libero. It’s all there statistically — two and a half digs per set (outstanding for the men’s game) and I’m sure sterling service reception numbers, too (they’re not so easily available). Christenson is obviously one of the hottest commodities in the sport these days, being that he’s already seen successful time with the US national team (I’d like to say I see someone else setting for the Americans in Rio, if they qualify, but honestly….who else is there?). He racked up nearly 12 assists per set this year, which is outstanding. Serving is also a big part of Micah’s game (huh…anagram that name and we could be talking about a setter in the women’s game), and he had a paltry-seeming 25 aces this season, but rote count of aces doesn’t tell you how many shank-passes he elicited.
I’m a little surprised to see Cook make it again (he was also first-team in 2013), but with Stanford’s resurgence I’m perhaps not as surprised as I would have been a month ago. Crabb had another amazing year, but with Long Beach State’s downfall to the end of the season his odds to repeat as NPOY seem remote. I’m sure it shouldn’t come down to that, but doesn’t it? Powell had a much better year than I knew, notching close to four kills per set on on .359 hitting for the season, with solid contributions in all other areas. Sure filled the Petty-void quite nicely. “Goncho” Quiroga was the lone constant for UCLA amid their rampant injuries and chemistry problems, and was as good as a year ago when he was first team. So he probably didn’t deserve to be punished for his team’s lack of success, all told, even if I did leave him off my Server of the Year ballot for pretty much that reason alone. Russell gains his first All-American selection in 2014 as the undoubted EIVA Player of the Year leading a Penn State squad I honestly think have a chance against the MPSF #3 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. And you don’t really need me to tell you about Taylor Sander, do you? Boom goes the dynamite.
The National Player of the Year will be drawn from this selection, and announced the night prior to the national championship match. My money’s on Sander, but it’s hard to say there’s any choice that would be howlingly bad.
Second team
BJ Boldog (S, Sr, Lewis)
Henry Cassiday (L, Sr, USC)
Driss Guessos (MB, RS Fr, Ohio State)
Steven Irvin (OH, Sr, Stanford)
Scott Kevorken (MB, Sr, UC Irvine)
Matt Leske (MB, Sr, Ball State)
Jonah Seif (S, So, UC Santa Barbara)
James Shaw (S, So, Stanford)
Josh Taylor (OH, Jr, Pepperdine)
Matt West (S, Jr, Pepperdine)
Some very interesting choices here. Boldog gets his third straight second-team nod to close out his college career. Cassiday makes the cut for his superlative defence, while I’ve heard anecdotally that his passing is at times lacking (of this level of prestige). Guessos is someone I should have included on my freshman All-American ballot (he made the selection just fine without me), but I’m a bit shocked that he’d make the for-realsies All-American selection and USC’s Lucas Yoder not. Likewise, it’s Guessos who gets tabbed National Newcomer of the Year, and not Yoder.
Irvin notches his second second-team selection in a row, as a second offensive option many teams would love to have as their first. Kevorken and Leske are both kind of one-trick ponies, but they do their one trick exceedingly well (particularly Leske, as he’s the national leader in blocks per set). In a year marked by strong setters (five of them between the two AA teams), Seif is someone I had kind of overlooked, but he had a strong season, putting up the fine assists numbers you need to see from a setter at this level and also blocking like someone who’s 6-foot-8 can. Same goes for Shaw, who’s getting here a year sooner than I thought he would. I had him second on my Setter of the Year ballot, because he does quite literally everything no worse than competently, and excels at times. West was my first-place vote for Setter of the Year (my third pick was Christenson) because I think he’s the best pure setter in the nation (sue me, but I haven’t quite bought a seat on the Micah hype-train just yet). Pepperdine are one of the (regrettably few) teams I’ve been able to see this year, and no one runs an offence like West does. His connections with Taylor (segue!) are particularly poetic.
Check out the AVCA’s posting for the full honourable mention list (nice that there is one this year — there wasn’t last year) and further blurbs about each first- and second-teamer.
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