28-0 Saint Xavier, Pennala Headline Men's Volleyball Postseason Honor Roll
CHICAGO --- NAIA No. 2-ranked Saint Xavier University cleaned up during the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular and tournament seasons and now the Cougars have done it again during the awards season when they claimed a league-high eight men's volleyball postseason awards among the 30 announced on Tuesday afternoon.
SXU, both the conference regular-season and postseason champions, boasted a league-high five of 12 spots on the all-conference first team and three of the five top individual awards. Highlighting the list were Matt Pennala (Long Beach, Calif.), Andres Velez (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) and head coach Tom Ryan.
Pennala was recognized as the CCAC Player of the Year after ranking among the top six players in the league in six separate categories. His current top billings are runner-up distinction in kills per set (4.2), attack percentage (.393) and service aces per set (0.51). The senior outside hitter is also fifth in kills (315) and service aces (38) and sixth in blocks per set (0.79).
On the national level, Pennala ranks fourth in kills per set.
Claiming his third CCAC Libero of the Year award was Velez, who registered the second-most digs (293) and digs per set (3.33). Those numbers rank the junior 10th- and 9th-best on the national level.
Ryan also collected his third CCAC Coach of the Year award after leading the Cougars to a perfect 28-0 record, thus far, and the highest ranking in school history. SXU has won five straight conference titles and six tourney crowns in a row under Ryan's direction.
Another three-peat recipient was Judson University's Elijah Wrobel (Bloomingdale, Ill.), who was again named the CCAC Setter of the Year. The top conference marks in both total assists (961) and assists per set (9.61) made for him receiving the award as well as Top 10 placements in service aces (36, 6th), service aces per set (0.36, 7th) and digs (163, 10th).
St. Ambrose University's Pedro Zang (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) rounded out the list of top individual award winners. He claimed his title as the CCAC Freshman of the Year after placing among the Top 10 in the league in three categories. The opposite-side hitter finished his season second in kills (355), sixth in service aces (36) and seventh in kills per set (3.17).
After Saint Xavier's eight awards, Judson University and St. Ambrose University were next in line with six honors each. Olivet Nazarene University posted four award winners, while Calumet College of St. Joseph and Viterbo University each earned three honors.
Saint Xavier shared the top spot with St. Ambrose for the most overall all-conference recipients (five), with the latter having the most second-team honorees (three). Twelve members made each of the two teams.
Half of the first team were recognizable names, including Wrobel and Calumet St. Joseph's Francis Hauze (Belize City, Brazil), both of whom closed out their careers by earning the recognition all four years with their respective programs. Velez, meanwhile, made the team for the third year in a row, while Pennala and Olivet Nazarene's Kahaku Marquez (Salt Lake, Hawaii) and Brody McAfee (Westfield, Ind.) were repeat selections.
Judson claimed the final honor as the league's Champions of Character Team.
For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.