Long Beach State sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco has been named the 2017 MPSF Player of the Year, and UC Irvine middle blocker Scott Stadick earned Freshman of the Year honors.
DeFalco led the 49ers to the MPSF regular season title with a 24-3 overall record and 16-2 finish in conference play. He was the conference’s only player who finished in the top 10 in the NCAA in both hitting percentage (.400 – 9th) and kills-per-set (4.10 – 6th). He’s also the only outside hitter who ranks in the top 15 in the MPSF in hitting percentage – a list mostly made up of setters and middle blockers, who tend to get higher-efficiency opportunities on offense, though fewer of them.
DeFalco’s season stats:
- 118 sets
- 510 kills (4.1/set)
- .400 hitting percentage
- 44 assists (.48/set)
- 25 aces (.27/set)
- 158 digs (1,74/set)
- 3 solo blocks
- 63 block assists
- 432.5 points (4.75/set).
DeFalco showed his true skills in the team’s big weekend against BYU, which had huge conference, and national, implications. Against the Cougars, one of the top 3 teams in the country, he had 38 kills and hit .338 across two games, which LBSU and BYU split.
DeFalco was last year named the MPSF conference, and AVCA national, Player of the Year, and now becomes the only player in MPSF history to earn Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons, following in the footsteps of BYU’s Ryan Millar. He’s the second 49er, and 4th sophomore, to earn the conference’s Player of the Year honor.
The Freshman of the Year Award went to UC Irvine’s Scott Stadick, a middle blocker from Watertown, Wisconsin.
Staddick put up his best performances at the end of the season to be named last week’s VolleyMob National Player of the Week. In their first match of the Anteaters’ final weekend of regular season play, Stadick had 12 blocks, which tied as the highest output by any player in a game of any length nationally so far this season.
The 7-footer hit .414 this season and recorded 22 solo blocks and 88 block assists in 92 sets played.
DeFalco was named to the All-MPSF First Team on Thursday as well, along with 2 of his teammates. Stadick earned Third Team honors, one of only 2 freshmen to receive honors outside of the All-Freshman Team.
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