You can read more about how we arrived at these players here:
https://www.volleydork.com/post/a-better-way-to-select-all-americans-mens-2023
Because these are teams, I took:
4 Outsides
4 Middles
2 Opposites
2 Setters
2 Liberos
These counts were doubled for HM
I thought about this two ways:
Weight the skills by how often a typical player performs them.
Outsides are about 25% serving, 20% reception, 30% attack, 25% block
That way you answer the question: who is the best prototypical outside hitter
But that doesn't feel like the point of All-America awards
So I went with:
Who adds the most value, per set, above expectation?
These are unweighted by skill, so that players like Jaylen Jasper, who carried an enormous load and was incredibly important to his team, are valued for their actual contributions, rather than "how he'd perform in some hypothetical situation"
Each position factored in a different combination of skills.
Outsides = Serve + Receive + Attack + Block
Middles = Serve + Attack + Block
Opposites = Serve + Attack + Block
Setters = Serve + Set + Attack + Block + Dig
Liberos = Receive + Dig
What follows are the top players, ranked by their actual contributions in the 2023 Men's NCAA season.
(If I'm honest, I'm not entirely in love with the setter methodology - it punishes setters like UCI's Joe Karlous who play in an offense that sets more high balls than most, even when not "necessary" vs. GCU's Slight who is running tempo from basically every location. But as a first pass, I did my best and it is what it is)
Let's get right into it.
1st Team:
Outside - Alex Knight (UCLA)
Outside - Hilir Henno (UC Irvine)
Outside - Spencer Olivier (Long Beach St.)
Outside - Ethan Champlin (UCLA)
Middle - Simon Torwie (Long Beach St.)
Middle - Merrick McHenry (UCLA)
Middle - Cole Hogland (Hawai'i)
Middle - Guillherme Voss (Hawai'i)
Opposite - Charles Fisher (Penn State)
Opposite - Dimitrios Mouchlias (Hawai'i)
Setter - Tyler Morgan (Lewis)
Setter - Andrew Rowan (UCLA)
Libero - Ryan Merk (Penn State)
Libero - Troy Gooch (UCLA)
Player of the Year:
Cal Fisher, Opposite, Penn State
Newcomer of the Year:
Andrew Rowan, Setter, UCLA
2nd Team:
Outside - Francesco Sani (UC Irvine)
Outside - Spyros Chakas (Hawai'i)
Outside - Sotiris Siapanis (Long Beach St.)
Outside - Kaleb Jenness (Ball State)
Middle - Tobey Ezeonu (Penn State)
Middle - Guy Genis (UCLA)
Middle - Nic Meyer (Loyola)
Middle - Ace Backer (Lees-McRae)
Opposite - Jaylen Jasper (Pepperdine)
Opposite - Ido David (UCLA)
Setter - Nic Slight (Grand Canyon)
Setter - Jakob Thelle (Hawai'i)
Libero - Justin Lui (Stanford)
Libero - Mason Briggs (Long Beach St.)
Honorable Mention:
Outside - Jacob Pasteur (Ohio State)
Outside - Omar Hoyos (George Mason)
Outside - Luuk Hoge Bavel (Charleston)
Outside - Michal Kowal (Penn State)
Outside - Will Rottman (Stanford)
Outside - Tinaishe Ndavazocheva (Ball State)
Outside - Brett Wildman (Penn State)
Outside - Miks Ramanis (BYU)
Middle - Vanis Buckholz (Ball State)
Middle - WIll Kimenhour (Charleston)
Middle - Owen Rose (Penn State)
Middle - Jimmy Meinhart (Loyola)
Middle - Justin Howard (Ohio State)
Middle - Ryan Vena (Princeton)
Middle - Shane Holdaway (Long Beach St.)
Middle - Cole Young (Ohio State)
Opposite - Parker Van Buren (Loyola)
Opposite - Clarke Godbold (Long Beach St.)
Opposite - Uriel Bautista (Concordia)
Opposite - Shane Wetzel (Ohio State)
Setter - Tyler Poulsen (McKendree)
Setter - Michael Wright (Ohio State)
Setter - Bryce Dvorak (Pepperdine)
Setter - Cole Bogner (Penn State)
Libero - Trey Cole (Pepperdine)
Libero - Domink Wagiel (Quincy)
Libero - Jason Gibbs (Lewis)
Libero - Brett Sheward (Hawai'i)
Full metrics by position:
