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Post by swingaway on Apr 23, 2009 18:39:34 GMT -5
2009 ALL-MPSF TEAM
PLAYER OF THE YEAR Paul Carroll, Opposite, Pepperdine
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Carson Clark, Opposite, UC Irvine
COACH OF THE YEAR Kevin Ring, UC San Diego
ALL-MPSF FIRST-TEAM Paul Carroll, Opposite, Pepperdine Eric Vance, Outside Hitter, Cal State Northridge Dean Bittner, Opposite, Long Beach State Murphy Troy, Outside Hitter, USC Ryan Ammerman, Setter, UC Irvine Carson Clark, Opposite, UC Irvine Kawika Shoji, Setter, Stanford
ALL-MPSF SECOND-TEAM Andrew Stewart, Outside Hitter, BYU Futi Tavana, Middle Blocker, BYU Jacek Ratajczak, Middle Blocker, Cal State Northridge Erik Shoji, Libero, Stanford Kevin Wynne, Middle Blocker, UC Irvine Dustin Watten, Libero, Long Beach State Garrett Muagututia, Outside Hitter, UCLA
ALL-MPSF THIRD-TEAM Spencer McLachlin, Outside Hitter, Stanford Brad Lawson, Outside Hitter, Stanford Dan Alexander, Middle Blocker, Long Beach State Tony Ciarelli, Outside Hitter, USC Jordan DuFault, Outside Hitter, UC Irvine Matt Stork, Setter, Cal State Northridge Kevin McKniff, Middle Blocker, Cal State Northridge
ALL-MPSF HONORABLE MENTION Yamil Perez, Setter, BYU Taylor Wilson, Outside Hitter, UC Irvine Jeff Menzel, Outside Hitter, UC Santa Barbara Austin Zahn, Middle Blocker, USC Ali'i Keohohou, Libero, Cal State Northridge Scott Slaughter, Middle Blocker, UC Santa Barbara Phil Bannan, Setter, UC San Diego Evan Romero, Opposite, Stanford Kasey Crider, Setter, Pepperdine Riley McKibbin, Setter, USC Ric Cervantes, Libero, Hawaii Sean Grubbs, Libero, Pepperdine Sean Daley, Middle Blocker, Pacific Thomas Amberg, Middle Blocker, UCLA
ALL-MPSF FRESHMEN TEAM Carson Clark, Opposite, UC Irvine Futi Tavana, Middle Blocker, BYU Matt Stork, Setter, Cal State Northridge Erik Shoji, Libero, Stanford Tony Ciarelli, Outside Hitter, USC Brad Lawson, Outside Hitter, Stanford Jim Baughman, Middle Blocker, Long Beach State
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Post by robonthemic on Apr 23, 2009 18:52:42 GMT -5
I wonder how tight the voting was between Carroll and Vance for MPSF POTY. Carson Clark really stepped it up this year that's for sure. Pretty solid teams.
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Post by Mac on Apr 23, 2009 19:12:35 GMT -5
Couple of things:
- I don't see a libero on the first team. I guess they just pick the 7 they think are deserving, not by position. There are two opposites.
- Sorry to not see Jack Polales get on the Freshman team. The last I looked his K/G stats were about 3rd or 4th in the country, and he's been a key contributor to UCLA's ability to stay in the playoff hunt. Given the intangibles he's shown in dealing with the constant lineup changes this year I felt he deserved definite attention.
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Post by notsocal2 on Apr 23, 2009 20:30:39 GMT -5
Agree w/ polales - and really lavaja from byu vs lbsu middle - re; newcomers, but overall they got most of the right players. Actually lbsu setter klipch didn't get hon mention and probably could have. I'm sure there are others
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Post by shockjock on Apr 23, 2009 21:51:02 GMT -5
Congrats to all these players!!!! and their teammates / coaches that helped !
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Post by ucsdfan on Apr 23, 2009 23:49:00 GMT -5
Talk about a difficult year to choose the all conference teams. Given how close the talent levels are, they did a pretty solid job picking the team. There are always complaints to be had, but clearly they tried to go more on observed performance rather than statistics, they tried to spread the love amongst the teams based on their season finish, and they ignored position in general when assigning the various teams. Things that stand out to me are: If you look at the way the list was drawn up, then by position this is how the committee ranked the players in the conference. Outside HittersEric Vance, Cal State Northridge Murphy Troy, USC Andrew Stewart, BYU Garrett Muagututia, UCLA Spencer McLachlin, Stanford Brad Lawson, Stanford Tony Ciarelli, USC Jordan DuFault, UC Irvine Taylor Wilson, UC Irvine Jeff Menzel, UCSB You can argue the placement to some degree, but once you get past the first two, they are pretty even. School reputation seems to have played a role. It would seem that Riecks and Ehrman should have been in the running. OppositesPaul Carroll, Pepperdine Dean Bittner, Long Beach State Carson Clark, UC Irvine Evan Romero, Stanford What a short list overall. Talk about a have and have not position. Having Steller on the bench seems that much more glaring. I'm surprised Polales was not considered at opposite or OH. It would also have been nice to see Fritsch get some consideration, but his consistency didn't quite warrant it. SettersRyan Ammerman, UC Irvine Kawika Shoji, Stanford Matt Stork, Cal State Northridge Yamil Perez, BYU Phil Bannan, UC San Diego Kasey Crider, Pepperdine Riley McKibbin, USC Talk about a stacked conference at setter, when Klipsch is omitted because there is no room left for him. The way they ranked the setters shows that they didn't look at all at the statistics. They looked at the player's ability to run the offense and their leadership. I couldn't agree more with the way they have them ranked. Had Kevin Ker played all year, he might have been able to sneak onto the list. Middle BlockersFuti Tavana, BYU Jacek Ratajczak, Cal State Northridge Kevin Wynne, UC Irvine Dan Alexander, Long Beach State Kevin McKniff, Cal State Northridge Austin Zahn, USC Scott Slaughter, UCSB Sean Daley, Pacific Thomas Amberg, UCLA Why so many MBs? Why, why, why? There are names here that are holding a place that should have been better given to a setter or an Opp. If D'Amore had played the entire season, then he should have been on the list. LiberoesErik Shoji, Stanford Dustin Watten, Long Beach State Ali'i Keohohou, Cal State Northridge Ric Cervantes, Hawaii Sean Grubbs, Pepperdine Glad to see that they based the top selections on talent. Because Pepperdine finished second, I'm sure they felt that they needed to put more than just Crider and Carroll on the all conference team. But Grubbs is definitely not better than Asuka, Silva, or Lesserman. Cervantes is included because Hawai'i needed to have at least one player on the list, but he certainly didn't deserve it this year. His inclusion is based on a great season last year. By teamUCI (19-3) 5 players Pepperdine (18-4) 3 players CSUN (16-6) 5 players Stanford (14-8) 5 players USC (13-9) 4 players BYU (13-9) 3 players CSULB (11-11) 3 players UCLA (10-12) 2 players UCSD (8-14) 1 players Hawai'i (6-16) 1 players UCSB (4-18) 2 players Pacific (0-22) 1 players Looks like Pepperdine and UCSD got short changed a bit, while Stanford and UCSB got a little more love than perhaps they should have. As far as the Freshman team goes, D'Amore and Polales were deserving, but as was discussed in another thread, it was so close that someone would have been short changed. |
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Post by notsocal2 on Apr 24, 2009 0:16:57 GMT -5
strong post ucsd: Some comments: agree pepp and ucsd seemed short changed by a player each, but I had no problem w/ the ucsb's whopping 2 players - menzel s/b #3 team. The 5 for stanford make some sense, but I'd argue romero is more critical than the 2 outsides - so swap the HM and #3 team players. Garret on team #2 is just wrong - he is real good, but he was injured, so #3 or HM ok, but too high. He could reach this next year or even #1, but the team needs to move up. I'd expect to see riecks, santos, nua, maybe fritch, walker and some others get on this list somewhere next year - and some of the freshman.
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Post by vball808 on Apr 24, 2009 1:49:37 GMT -5
Every pick is pretty much a solid pick. Polales could have made his way on there, i agree with that, but then you're just nit picking. Sean grubbs is probably one of the worst liberos i've seen (when they played in hawaii, he was brutal). Asuka, lesserman, or luke morris could have easily been on there instead of him. I'm surprised Cervantes got recognition, but when i look at it makes sense that the coaches voted for honorable mention for him. He's been playing hurt all year long along with putting up solid numbers, believe it or not. I think its mostly based off the fact he's really good and the coaches realize he's been playing 80% all year. Its funny that he's better than most even though he's hurt.
One last comment, Wheres the UCSD Love! Should be more than 1 selection for ucsd in this historic season for them.
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Post by roy on Apr 24, 2009 2:44:19 GMT -5
Cervantes doesn't come as too much of a shock to me. I think the coaches try to pick someone from each team and he seems to be the most logical choice. The outside hitters rotated in and out so many times that none of them had really strong stats. The middles were probably the most consistent at being in the match but really didn't put up strong overall numbers. They blocked well but didn't get a lot of kills per game and didn't hit for a great percent (at least with respect to the amount of swings they got). Cervantes was in and out of the line up as well but took a majority of the passing responsibility and the digging. The only other person who I think could have been in the running was Carney, but he is hard to figure out given he played both setter and outside hitter for most of the time so his stats got skewed.
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Post by volleyball23 on Apr 24, 2009 5:07:25 GMT -5
santos from pepperdine got robbed
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Post by ucsdfan on Apr 24, 2009 9:18:22 GMT -5
Every pick is pretty much a solid pick. Polales could have made his way on there, i agree with that, but then you're just nit picking. Sean grubbs is probably one of the worst liberos i've seen (when they played in hawaii, he was brutal). Asuka, lesserman, or luke morris could have easily been on there instead of him. I'm surprised Cervantes got recognition, but when i look at it makes sense that the coaches voted for honorable mention for him. He's been playing hurt all year long along with putting up solid numbers, believe it or not. I think its mostly based off the fact he's really good and the coaches realize he's been playing 80% all year. Its funny that he's better than most even though he's hurt. I agree with your comment on Grubbs. I saw him play about five or six times, and he was average at best. I definitely see him as a step behind Asuka, Silva, and Lesserman. When they lost against BYU, he was horrible (probably cost them that match). But, they had to give Pepperdine more than two players on the team if they were going to give Stanford, CSUN, and UCI five players each. If you look at the order the HM list is in, from Cervantes on looks like the afterthought fill-ins, where they added a Hawai'i player, a third Pepperdine player, a Pacific player, and a second UCLA player. Clearly these were to balance the distribution of players so every team got some love. Although Riecks and Santos were more important to Pepperdine than Grubbs, Riecks suspect passing and blocking probably cost him. And Santos no doubt is paying the price for transferring. Polales should have been UCLA's second player on the team, but Amberg did well when he was in. And if you have any doubt how the committee really feels, you'll notice that Amberg got HM, but didn't make the all-Frosh team while Baughman did. One last comment, Wheres the UCSD Love! Should be more than 1 selection for ucsd in this historic season for them. While I agree in my heart with this comment, I'm not sure who that second player should have been. Fritsch, Lesserman, and Erhman could have been in the running for a second person on the list. Fritsch had some amazing stat lines in a few games, but he also had some negative hitting nights too. Lesserman was excellent last year (I think he should have been first team), but this year the conference was stacked at libero and he shared the back court with two of the best passing OHs in the conference, so he didn't have to take as much of the court as most of the liberoes in the conference. Ehrman is guy who impresses me most, because he had some great games going against blockers ten inches taller. He's the best passer in the conference after Shoji, but he just didn't quite put up the numbers to warrant all confernece. Spangler had an off season, and got his love last year. Bannan really was the only one who deserved to make the team if it was based purely on talent and performance this year. I'm just happy that the committee saw that Bannan is an amazing setter. This happens to be a year with a bunch of great setters though, so while he did on par with first and second teamers of years past, there was just no room for another setter in the 1st-3rd teams. I'm actually quite impressed that the voters saw Bannan as a better setter than Crider and McKibben. He is flat out a better setter than Crider (technical and game sense) and it seems that the voters saw that Crider really wasn't that great. Having Carroll to set padded his stats, but in the long run actually harmed how people viewed his skills. McKibben has a good cast of hitters to set to. They probably saw Bannan's good better court sense as the driving force behind his placement ahead of McKibben. santos from pepperdine got robbed Rodnie Santos lost his chance to make the AA list when he transferred, no matter how much more deserving he was than half the MB list. In a process where they try to spread the love and occassionally judge on lifetime achievement, there is definitely going to be plenty of politics. Alex DuPron, Sean Pedersen, and Rodnei Santos just weren't going to have any chance at getting recognized, although only Santos deserved an honor. |
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Post by robonthemic on Apr 24, 2009 10:22:55 GMT -5
ucsd, you get my vote for one of the most SOLID posts of the year. We can call it the MPSF SPOTY!
Great breakdown and analysis. The only thing I would want to add in is PEP is for the most part a "one-pony" show and to get 3 players on All-Conference honors was a gift. By nature of how much attention Carroll garners IMO, the offense could have been run more effectively. On top of that, the size of their OHs (McKee and Riecks) could have added a little more to their defense by blocking better. Santos is scary-good-- when he's involved in the offense. IMO, he could have been fed more often to open things up more.
But then again, they did finish 2nd in the conference so I may be a "squeaky wheel." For the most part, the "expected" players did make the list, I think it was placement in the teams that could be changed up.
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Post by robonthemic on Apr 24, 2009 10:32:17 GMT -5
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Post by swingaway on Apr 24, 2009 11:48:24 GMT -5
Congrats to Ring as Coach of the year. How about some love for Campbell? Although Ring is an obviously deserving coach with what he has done and the obstacles he faces, Coach Campbell is always just a little out of coaching honors. The committee may have felt Speraw and Dunphy have had plenty of recognition and could be passed by once. But Campbell has done great things at CSUN and, as far as I know, not been recognized. He consistently turns average recruits into solid teams. He could have been a solid choice this year. I repeat my congratulations to Coach Ring and his great achievements. How about an Honorable mention for Campbell  |
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Post by robonthemic on Apr 24, 2009 12:49:14 GMT -5
ALL-MPSF FRESHMEN TEAM Carson Clark, Opposite, UC Irvine Futi Tavana, Middle Blocker, BYU Matt Stork, Setter, Cal State Northridge Erik Shoji, Libero, Stanford Tony Ciarelli, Outside Hitter, USC Brad Lawson, Outside Hitter, Stanford Jim Baughman, Middle Blocker, Long Beach State Actually doing some 'analysis' how did Baughman (LB) get it over D'Amore (UCI)? D'Amore leads the conference in blocking!?!? Was this a "courtesy" pick so each of the top 7 schools were represented on the freshmen team? |
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