MIVA All-Conference Announced

[weaver]

2006 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association All-Conference Teams Announced

Loyola's Kozlarek and Davis and Ohio State's Albertson receive top honors

Columbus, Ohio -- The Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association has announced its All-Conference selections for the 2006 season. By a vote of the conference coaches, Loyola's Chris Kozlarek (OPP, Sr., Evergreen Park, Ill) has been named the MIVA Player of the Year and Rambler coach Shane Davis repeats as MIVA Coach of the Year. Ohio State's John Albertson (MB, Fr., Ballwin, Mo) was named the MIVA Freshman of the Year.

Kozlarek played a key role in leading Loyola to the MIVA regular season championship. In conference statistics he ranked second in points per game at 5.28, second in kills at 4.39, second in ace serves at .44, seventh in digs at 2.31 and 10th in hitting percentage at .311. Davis, in his third year with Loyola (22-6, 11-1 MIVA), guided the Ramblers to its third league championship in the history of the program. Albertson, in conference statistics, ranks second in blocks per game at 1.51, 18th in kills at 2.35, 15th in points at 3.22 and sixth in hitting percentage at .364.

Regular season champion Loyola had four players named MIVA first team All-Conference. Along with Player of the Year Kozlarek, the Ramblers' James Grunst (MH, Jr., Milwaukee, Wis.), Brian Guntli (S, Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) and John Thuet (L, Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) were named to the first team. IPFW, Ball State and Ohio State had two players each named to the first team. IFPW's C.J. Macias (OPP, So., Fr. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Serda Sicka (MH, Sr., Istanbul, Turkey) were joined by Ball State's Dave Carlson (S, Sr., Coon Rapids, Minn.) and Nick Meyer (OPP, Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio) and Ohio State's Albertson and Daniel Mathews (S., So., Shorewood, Wis.) on the first team..

Ball State had three players named to the MIVA second team All-Conference squad. They include Even Berg (OH, Sr., Bristol, Wis.), Pat Durbin (OH, Jr., Louisville, KY) and Ian Peckler (L, Jr., Vernon Hills, Ill.). IPFW and Lewis placed two players each on the second team. IPFW's Colin Lundeen (S., Jr., Victoria, B.C., Canada) and Josh Stewart (MH, So., St. Mary's, Ont, Canada) were joined by Lewis' Drew Pickering (OH, Fr., Wauwatosa, Wis.) and Alex Vigansky (MH, Fr., Kenosha, Wis). Rounding out the second team are T.J. Bellei (MB, So., Lake Forest, Ill.) of Carthage, Corey Kloos (MH, Sr., Florissant, Mo.) of Loyola and Niels Pedersen (S/H, Sr. Evergreen Park, Ill.) of Quincy.

2006 MIDWESTERN INTERCOLLEGIATE VOLLEYBALL
ASSOCIATION ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

2006 MIVA First Team All-Conference (listed alphabetical)
Athlete School Pos. Hgt. Cl. Hometown
John Albertson Ohio State MB 6-6 Fr. Ballwin, Mo.
Dave Carlson Ball State S 6-3 Sr. Coon Rapids, Minn.
James Grunst (1, 4, 5) Loyola MH 6-5 Jr. Milwaukee, Wis.
Brian Guntli (2) Loyola S 6-3 Jr. St. Louis, Mo.
Chris Kozlarek (1) Loyola OPP 6-3 Sr. Evergreen Park, Ill.
C. J. Macias (2) IPFW OPP 6-4 So. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Daniel Mathews (2, 3) Ohio State S 6-6 So. Shorewood, Wis
Nick Meyer (2) Ball State OPP 6-8 Jr. Cincinnati, Ohio
Serda Sicka (1, 4) IPFW MH 6-7 Sr. Istanbul, Turkey
John Thuet Loyola L 6-2 Sr. St. Louis, Mo.

2006 MIVA Second Team All-Conference (listed alphabetical)
Athlete School Pos. Hgt. Cl. Hometown
T. J. Bellei Carthage MB 6-6 So. Lake Forest, Ill.
Evan Berg (1) Ball State OH 6-3 Sr. Bristol, Wis.
Pat Durbin Ball State OH 6-6 Jr. Louisville, Ky.
Corey Kloos Loyola MH 6-5 Sr. Florissant, Mo.
Colin Lundeen IPFW S 6-3 Jr. Victoria, B.C. Canada
Ian Peckler Ball State L 6-3 Jr. Vernon Hills, Ill
Niels Pedersen Quincy S/H 6-4 Sr. Evergreen Park, Ill
Drew Pickering Lewis OH 5-11 Fr. Wauwatosa, Wis.
Josh Stewart IPFW MH 6-8 So. St. Mary's, Ont. Canada
Alex Vigansky Lewis MH 6-9 Fr. Kenosha, Wis.

2006 MIVA Player of the Year
Chris Kozlarek, Loyola

2006 MIVA Freshman of the Year
John Albertson, Ohio State

2006 MIVA Coach of the Year
Shane Davis (6), Loyola

1 Indicates 2005 MIVA First Team All-Conference Selection
2 Indicates 2005 MIVA Second Team All-Conference Selection
3 Indicates 2005 MIVA Freshman of the Year
4 Indicates 2004 MIVA First Team All-Conference Selection
5 Indicates 2004 MIVA Freshman of the Year
6 Indicates 2005 MIVA Coach of the Year

[thorjr02]

Congrats to all...they all deserve it!

[nellakwah21]

I was under the impression Grunst is a bit taller than 6-5.

[mivamiva2]

Congrats on great seasons to all the players who made the teams. And Grunst is 6'8" don't know why he is listed at 6'5".

[EyeNoLilVeeBall]

Again, the MIVA coaches disappoint!!!

Macias not player of the year?

Is this a joke?

[puwave]

eyenolilveeball said:

Again, the MIVA coaches disappoint!!!

Macias not player of the year?

Is this a joke?

I'm not saying whether he did or didn't deserve player of the year, but he IS only a sophomore and usually voters like to give awards like these to juniors/seniors....

[vbcrew]

macias will have plenty of time to get player of the year. Kozlarek deserves it, he was the better player this year, doing a lot more than just attacking but also provided loyola with great defense and serving.

[EyeNoLilVeeBall]

Ok, lets talk stats..................
Koz .311
CJ .299

Koz 4.39
CJ 6.09

Koz .44
CJ .37

Koz .81
CJ .74

Koz 5.28
CJ 6.85

Koz 2.31
CJ 2.15

I think the minor disparity in hitting percentage, blocks, aces, and digs is more then made up for in points and kills. You make it seem like CJ didnt play defense or block or serve aces. He was right there with KOZ in all of those. We arent talking about CJ having 5.25 kill to 4.5 for Koz. This is the biggest disparity in KPG in the last 5 years between 1st and 2nd. Last year when Greene won POY he was less then 1 KPG behind the leader but to be almost 2 KPG behind and still get POY is stupid. He was by far the best player in the conference this year. He carried his team to a 2nd place finish.

[mikesmith]

I think CJ Macias will have his time. It could have been this year, but it wasn't.

Now, on to something much more important... Winning the conference and going to the final four.

[mikesmith]

Good luck to all MIVA teams.

[mikesmith]

Hopefully you will see my Bruins in the FF.

[mivamiva2]

Head to head Loyola 2-0. Plus look at head to head against Kozlarek and Macias, Macias only had more points due to more sets. Hitting percentage was higher in both matches. Macias is a really good player but I think Kozlarek is the most complete player there is.

[mikesmith]

The most complete player in the country?

[Beachy]

I am trying to catch up to Mike Smith.....but he is very busy

[Deleted]

If you switched teams with Koz and Macias, you'de have Koz with the better stats only because he would be IPFW's top option. Loyola has a more balanced offense leading to less opportunities for Koz. No doubt that Macias is awesome in his own right and he'll probably win the POTW next year for sure. To illustrate, Macias has 1104 attempts over 98 games (11.27 per game). Koz has 785 attempts over 90 games (8.72). Just in conference alone Macias has 571 attempts over 46 games (12.41 per game) and Koz has 315 attempts over 36 games (8.75 per game). If Koz had more games and more attempts per game, he may well put up numbers as good if not better. Head to head, both players have the same total points in 2 matches with only a 0.5 differential in each match. Overall IPFW next two highes attempt leaders is between 400 and 500 over the year. Loyola's next 4 highest attempt leaders are between 400 and 500.

And Loyola's James Grunst is 6-8.. and 2nd in the country in hitting percentage.