Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Conference

2008 Releases

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April 28, 2008
Ohio State's Daniel Mathews Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Ohio State men’s volleyball setter Daniel Mathews (Sr., Shorewood, Wis.) was named the MIVA Player of the Week for his play in directing the Ohio State offense to 3-0 victories over Loyola-Chicago and Ball State in the MIVA Tournament. Mathews helped secure the tournament championship and the MIVA automatic bid to the NCAA National Championship semifinals. His efforts were rewarded by being named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. In the 30-22, 30-26, 30-27 win over Loyola-Chicago, Mathews had 31 assists, adding a match-high 10 digs, five assist blocks and two kills. OhioState hit .290 in the match. Mathews had 41 assists in the 30-19, 30-24, 30-21 win over Ball State in the championship match. He added nine digs, four block assists and three kills while directing the Buckeyes to a .364 hitting percentage. In the two matches, Mathews averaged 12.00 assist per game and posted a team-high 3.17 digs per game. He averaged 1.50 blocks per game. His nine assist blocks on the week gives him 412 career total blocks (50 solos, 362 assists) and has moved him to fourth on the Ohio State career total blocks list. Mathews is a two-time Most Valuable Player of the MIVA Tournament, receiving the honor in 2005. The last time a player repeated the honor was Ball State’s Eduardo Ferraz in 1995 and 1997.

April 21, 2008
Loyola's Ian Anderson Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Ian Anderson (Wauwatosa, Wis.) a 6-4 senior outside hitter from Loyola-Chicago (17-13 overall, 7-5 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), has been named the MIVA Player of the Week for his play in the 3-2 (30-27, 28-30, 30-27, 25-30, 20-18) victory over IPFW in the quarterfinals of the MIVA Tournament. Anderson helped the fourth seeded Ramblers to a 3-2 victory over the fifth seeded Mastodons with a team-high 23.5 points. He had 21 kills and hit .562 for the match. Anderson tied his season-high with five total blocks (five assist blocks) and had two digs in the contest. He had six kills in the final nine Loyola-Chicago points to help secure the victory. Trailing in game five, 12-11, two Anderson kills gave the Ramblers the lead at 13-12. In game five, Anderson hit .800 with eight kills in 10 attempts. For the match, he averaged 4.70 points, 4.20 kills, .40 digs and 1.00 blocks per game while hitting .562.

April 16, 2008
2008 MIVA All-Conference Team Announced

Ohio State’s Daniel Mathews named Player of the Year, OSU’s Pete Hanson named Coach of the Year and Ball State’s J.D. Gasparovic named Freshman of the Year

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association has announced its all-conference selections for the 2008 season. By a vote of the seven conference coaches, Ohio State’s Daniel Mathews (S, Sr., Shorewood, Wis.) has been named the MIVA Player of the Year and Buckeye coach Pete Hanson was selected as the coach of the year. Ball State’s J.D. Gasparovic (MA, Fr., St. Louis, Mo.) was named the MIVA Freshman of the Year. Mathews and Hanson are repeat winners from 2007.

Mathews guided the Buckeyes to an 11-1 conference record and a second straight regular season MIVA championship. He averaged 12.13 assists per game in conference play, ranking fourth in the league. Mathews averaged .47 kills, .36 aces, 1.76 digs and 1.04 blocks per game in conference play.

Hanson is in his 24th season with Ohio State and now has been named the coach of the year eight times. He has won 11 regular season championships including the 2008 title and has won the MIVA tournament six times.

Gasparovic was the top blocker in the conference with a 1.45 per game average. He averaged 1.53 kills per game while hitting .273.

Regular season champion Ohio State has five players receiving all-conference honors. Joining Mathews on the first team are Robbie Klein (OH, Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio) and Brett Versen (OH, 5th, Centerville, Ohio). Named to the second team from the Buckeyes are Conor Martin (L, Sr., Avon Lake, Ohio) and Ben Spurlock (MH, So., Stow, Ohio). Ball State also had five players on the team with Patrick Durbin (OA, Sr., Louisville, Ky.), Matt McCarthy (MA, Jr., Wheaton, Ill.) and Ian Peckler (L, Gr., Vernon Hills, Ill.) named to the first team. Second-team selections for the Cardinals included Todd Chamberlain (OA, Jr., Louisville, Ky.) and Ethan Pheister (S, So., Shorewood, Wis.). Lewis had four players named to the team with Jared Dayton (OH, Sr., Laguna Hills, Calif.) named to the first team. Flyer second-team selections included Mike Iandolo (S, So., Orlando, Fla.), Billy Sahagian (MB, Jr., Bartlett, Ill.) and Alex Vigansky (MB, Jr., Kenosha, Wis.). IPFW and Loyola-Chicago each had three players receive all-conference honors. IPFW’s first team selections included C.J. Macias (OH, Sr., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Jason Yhost (OH, Sr., San Diego, Calif.) with Josh Stewart (MH, Sr., St. Mary’s, Ont., Canada) named to the second team for the Mastodons. Loyola-Chicago’s Ian Anderson (OPP, Sr., Wauwatosa, Wis.) was a first-team selection for the Ramblers with Kris Berzins (OH, So., Brinklow, Md.) and Nick Lamoureux (MB, Jr., Wheaton, Ill.) named to the second team.

The MIVA tournament opens this weekend with quarterfinal matches. Friday has IPFW at Loyola-Chicago and Mercyhurst at Lewis in 7 p.m. matches. Saturday has Quincy at Ball State at 7:30 p.m. The three winners advance to the tournament semifinals (5 and 7:30 p.m.) at Ohio State Thursday, April 24. The championship match is at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 26 at Ohio State.

2008 MIVA First Team (listed alphabetical)

2008 MIVA Second Team All-Conference (listed alphabetical)

2008 MIVA Player of the Year

2008 MIVA Freshman of the Year

2008 MIVA Coach of the Year
Pete Hanson, Ohio State

April 14, 2008
Ohio State's Robbie Klein Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Robbie Klein (Cincinnati, Ohio) a 6-3 senior/junior outside hitter from ninth-ranked Ohio State (18-7 overall, 11-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), has been named the MIVA Player of the Week for his play in wins at IPFW and at home against No. 8 Ball State and Mercyhurst. Klein helped Ohio State to three conference wins in five days in winning the outright MIVA Championship. In the rescheduled match at IPFW, OSU won 3-2 to stay in the hunt for the title. Klein posted 20 points against the Mastodons, recording 19 kills while hitting .237.He added eight digs, one ace serve, two assists and handled 33 of 36 reception attempts. Tied at 11 in the fifth game, Klein had kills for three of OSU’s final four points including the match winner (fourth point was an IPFW error). Against then-8th-ranked Ball State, Klein’s match-high 26.5 points helped OSU secure at least a share of the MIVA Championship in the 3-1 victory. He recorded 23 kills in the match while hitting .259. Klein added seven digs, one assist block, three ace serves, one assist and handled 26 reception attempts without an error. His 26.5 points is his season high. Behind, 1-0 in the match, Klein scored the final three points on kills in game two to win, 30-27, and tie the match at one game each. Klein had 13.5 points in the 3-0 win over Mercyhurst to secure the outright MIVA Championship. He recorded 10 kills while hitting .286. Klein added four digs, three assist blocks, two ace serves and handled 10 reception attempts. His 10 kills was his 12th consecutive double figure kill match of the season and he has had 22 on the season. His combined 60 points for the three matches has moved him to 12th on the Ohio State career points list with 1,101.5.

April 8, 2008
2008 MIVA Academic All-Conference Team Announced

62 players honored for their work in the classroom

The Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association recognizes a total of 62 players who have been named to the MIVA Academic All-Conference Team. To be eligible, athletes must have achieved at least a career 3.00 grade point average on a 4.0 scale after the completion of the fall semester at their respective institutions.

The 2008 MIVA Academic All-Conference selections are listed below by school:

April 7, 2008
IPFW's Jason Yhost Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Jason Yhost (San Diego, Calif.) a 6-4 senior opposite from IPFW (12-11 overall, 5-6 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), has been named the MIVA Player of the Week for his play in Mastodon home wins against Mercyhurst and then-No. 15 Lewis. Yhost had a match-high 14 points in the 3-0 (30-16, 30-21, 30-24) win over Mercyhurst. He had match-highs of 11 kills and three ace serves while hitting .500 and recording four digs and two assists. Yhost, in the 3-1 (30-27, 30-24, 27-30, 30-22) win over Lewis, posted a match-high 23.5 points against the Flyers. He recorded match-highs of 20 kills and three ace serves while hitting .343. Yhost shared match-high honors with 13 digs, adding two assists and an assist block. The win over Lewis marked the second time this season that the Mastodons have defeated a ranked opponent. In the two matches, Yhost averaged 5.35 points per game with averages of 4.43 kills, .86 aces and .14 blocks per game. He averaged 2.43 digs per game and hit .396.

March 31, 2008
Ohio State's Brett Versen Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Brett Versen (Centerville, Ohio) a 6-7 senior outside hitter from 10th-ranked Ohio State (13-7 overall, 8-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. Versen had back-to-back matches with 20 or more points last week. In the 3-1 loss at top-ranked Penn State, he had a team-high 20 points recording 15 kills, three ace serves, a solo block and two assist blocks. He added four digs while hitting .375. Versen had 23 points in the 3-1 win at St. Francis. He had a co-match-high of 21 kills adding four assist blocks and eight digs while hitting .289. With his three ace serves at Penn State, Versen has 57 career ace serves and has moved to 17th on the Ohio State career aces list. He has posted double-figure kills in his last four matches and has 16 this season. For the two matches, Versen averaged 5.38 points, 4.50 kills, 1.50 digs, .88 blocks and .38 aces per game while hitting .325.

March 24, 2008
Ohio State's Robbie Klein Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Robbie Klein (Cincinnati, Ohio) a 6-3 senior outside hitter from 10th-ranked Ohio State (12-6, 8-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. Klein had a match-high 20.5 points in the 3-1 (28-30, 30-28, 30-28, 30-26) win at Loyola-Chicago with 17 kills, an ace serve and five assist blocks. He hit .238 adding an assist and seven digs. With the match tied at 1-1 in games and the score tied at  27, a Klein kill gave OSU its first lead of the game at 28-27. The Ramblers tied the game at 28 but back-to-back kills from Klein gave the Buckeyes a 30-28 game three victory. In the 3-0 (30-27, 30-23, 30-22) win at then-No. 15 Lewis, Klein had 11.5 points with 10 kills, one ace serve and an assist block. He hit .231 for the match, adding an assist and five digs. For the two matches, Klein averaged 4.57 points, 3.86 kills, 1.71 digs and .86 blocks per game. He handled 43 of 46 reception attempts (.935). His play the past week has moved him to 13th (from 16th) in OSU career kills with 811. Klein moved to fourth (from fifth) in OSU career aces with 83 and is now 16th (from 18th) in OSU career points with 964.5.

March 17, 2008
Lewis Outside Hitter Jared Dayton Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Jared Dayton (Laguna Hills, Calif.) a 6-5 senior outside hitter from 15th-ranked Lewis (16-6, 5-2 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. He posted double-figure kills in the three matches he played in last week and has a current streak of seven. Dayton had 18 kills and hit .361 in the 3-2 (30-26, 24-30, 30-25, 24-30, 15-12) victory at then 15th-ranked Loyola-Chicago in a mid-week match. He added four assist blocks, three digs and an ace serve against the Ramblers. Dayton had 10 kills while hitting .240 in the 3-0 (30-19, 34-32, 30-14) home win against Mercyhurst. He added three digs, a solo block and two aces in the match. Dayton had a match-high 19 kills in the 3-2 (30-23, 26-30, 30-27, 28-30, 15-9) victory against NJIT. He hit .406 in the contest and had five digs and four assist blocks. For the week, Dayton averaged 4.23 points, 3.62 kills, .85 digs, .69 blocks and .23 aces while hitting .344. He recorded his 1,200th career kill during the week.

March 11, 2008
OhioState's Daniel Mathews Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Daniel Mathews (Shorewood, Wis.) recorded his second double-double of the season and eighth of his career with 43 assists and a season-high 11 digs in the 3-1 (28-30, 30-24, 30-23, 30-20) win at Mercyhurst. The 6-5 senior added four total blocks (one solo and three assists), two ace serves and a kill in the match. His previous dig high this season was 9 in two matches. With his solo block, Mathews has moved into sole possession of 11th on the OSU career solo blocks list with 43. He had been tied for 11th with Steve Potter (1993-95). His three assist blocks has moved him into solo possession of fifth place on the OSU career assist blocks lists. He was previously tied with Gary Wrobel (1994-97). Mathews averaged 10.8 assists, 2.75 digs, 1.00 blocks and .50 aces per game in the match.

March 4, 2008
Ball State's Matt McCarthy Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Matt McCarthy (Jr., Wheaton, Ill.), a 6-7 middle attacker from ninth-ranked Ball State (12-6, 5-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. In back-to-back home victories over seventh-ranked UCLA, McCarthy averaged 3.14 points, 1.71 kills and 2.57 blocks per game while hitting .292. He had six kills and five assist blocks in Friday’s 3-1 (23-30, 30-24, 30-19, 30-24) victory over the Bruins. Saturday, McCarthy recorded a career-high 13 total blocks with two solos and 11 assist blocks in the 3-0 (30-21, 30-26, 30-24) win over UCLA. He added six kills, one assist and a dig in the match while hitting .333.

Feb. 26, 2008
Lewis Outside hitter Drew Pickering Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Drew Pickering (Jr., Wauwatosa, Wis.), a 5-10 outside attacker from Lewis (9-5, 3-2 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. Pickering earned All-Tournament honors at the Lewis Invitational in wins over UC San Diego and Cal Baptist. In the 3-1 (30-27, 37-20, 30-25, 30-27) win over UC San Diego, Pickering posted his second double-double of the season with 13 kill and 11 digs. He hit .480 with one error in 25 attempts. Pickering added six assist blocks and two assists in the match. In the 3-0 (30-22, 30-25, 30-26) victory over Cal Baptist, he had nine kills while hitting .438. Pickering added four ace serves, two digs and two assist blocks. For the week, he averaged 4.29 points, 3.14 kills while hitting .463. Pickering averaged 1.86 digs and 1.14 blocks per game.

Feb. 19, 2008
Ball State's Patrick Durbin Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Patrick Durbin (Sr., Louisville, Ky.), a 6-6 outside attacker from Ball State (9-6, 4-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. In Ball State’s 3-1 (26-30, 30-28, 32-30, 31-29) upset of No. 8 Ohio State, Durbin paced all players with 22 kills while adding 12 digs for his third double-double in the last four matches. He had a match-high 23.5 points in the match, adding 12 digs, an ace serve, a block assist while hitting .244. Durbin had 15 points in the 3-0 (30-24, 30-21, 30-27) win over Mercyhurst, recording 12 kills, a career-high three solo blocks, two digs while hitting .391. For the two matches, Durbin averaged 5.50 points, 4.86 kills, 2.00 digs and .57 blocks per game while hitting .294.

Feb. 12, 2008
Ball State's J.D. Gasparovic Named the MIVA Player of the Week

J.D. Gasparovic (Fr., St. Louis, Mo.), a 6-7 middle attacker from Ball State (7-6, 2-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. He helped the Cardinals to road victories at No. 14 George Mason and at Rutgers-Newark. In the 3-2 (33-35, 30-24, 26-30, 30-26, 17-15) win over George Mason, Gasparovic collected career-highs of 14 kills and 13 totals blocks (3 solo, 10 assists) while hitting .632, recording a team-high 23 points. He hit .632 in the contest, adding one ace serve and two assists. Gasparovic hit .917 against Rutgers-Newark in the 3-0 (30-18, 30-27, 30-15) Cardinal win. He had 11 kills in 12 attempts with no errors. He added two blocks (1-1) and a dig while recording a team-high 12.5 points. In the two matches, Gasparovic averaged 4.44 points, 3.12 kills and 1.88 blocks per game while hitting .742.

Feb. 5, 2008
Ohio State's Brett Versen Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Brett Versen (5th-Sr., Centerville, Ohio), a 6-7 outside hitter for seventh-ranked Ohio State (6-1, 4-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. He played a key role in MIVA conference home victories over Lewis (3-0) and then No. 14 Loyola-Chicago (3-2) last week to keep the Buckeyes undefeated in league play at 5-0. He had a career-high 24.5 points in the 32-30, 30-25, 30-27 win over Lewis, tying his career-high of 20 kills and adding a season-high nine digs. Versen hit .368 in the match, adding three ace serves, a solo block and an assist block against the Flyers. He produced 24 points in the 30-26, 27-30, 30-16, 28-30, 15-13 victory over No. 14 Loyola-Chicago, recording 19 kills while hitting .417. He tied his career-high of four ace serves while adding three digs and two assist blocks. Versen had three kills and an ace serve in the fifth game against the Ramblers and had the match-winning kill for the victory. For the weekend Versen averaged 6.06 points, 4.88 kills while hitting .392. He averaged .88 aces, 1.50 digs and .50 blocks per game. He has had double-figure kills in his last nine matches (including two from 2007).

Jan. 29, 2008
Ball State's Ethan Pheister Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Ethan Pheister (So., Shorewood, Wis.), a 6-5 setter for Ball State (4-5, 2-1 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) has been named the MIVA Player of the Week. Pheister led the Cardinals to home victories over Lewis 3-2 (17-30, 27-30, 30-28, 30-25, 15-13) and NJIT 3-1 (30-17, 30-24, 26-30, 30-22). Against Lewis, he had a career-high 61 assists, eight digs, six kills and three blocks (one solo, two assists). Pheister had 31 assists, a career-high nine digs, three blocks (3 assists), three aces and a kill against NJIT, playing in three of four games. For the weekend, Pheister averaged 11.50 assists, 2.12 digs, .75 blocks and .88 kills per game while hitting .875.

Jan. 22, 2008
IPFW's Jason Yhost Named the MIVA Player of the Week

Jason Yhost (Sr., San Diego, Calif.), a 6-4 opposite for No. 9 IPFW, has been named the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Player of the Week. Yhost had a career-high 29 kills against No. 1 Brigham Young in a 3-1 (30-23, 32-30, 23-30, 30-26) Cougar victory while hitting .533. He added 11 digs, two aces and one block assist. In the Mastodons 3-0 (30-19, 30-19, 30-25) win over Mercyhurst, Yhost hit a career-high .762 with 17 kills with one error in 21 attempts. He added two ace serves, one dig and an assist block in the match. For the weekend, Yhost averaged 7.29 points, 6.57 kills, 1.71 digs and .29 blocks per game while hitting .606.

Jan. 15, 2008
Loyola's Kris Berzins Named MIVA Player of the Week

Kris Berzins (So., Brinklow, Md.), a 6-1 outside hitter for No. 14(tie) Loyola Chicago, has been named the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Player of the Week. Berzins had a career-high 18 kills in the Ramblers, 3-0 (30-24, 30-26, 30-26) win over Ball State. He added 10 digs, a block assist and an assist in the match. Berzins hit .342 against the Cardinals and averaged 6.17 points, 6.00 kills, 3.33 digs and .33 blocks per game.

Dec. 12, 2007
IPFW Picked as the 2008 MIVA Preseason Favorite

IPFW has three preseason All-Conference selections, Loyola, Ohio State and Ball State have two each

        COLUMBUS, Ohio -- IFPW has been selected as the preseason favorite to win the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association by a vote of the league coaches. The Mastodons finished second last year in the regular season and won the MIVA Tournament to advance to the NCAA Championship match. Ohio State, the 2007 MIVA regular season champion, was picked to finish second, Lewis third and Loyola-Chicago fourth. Ball State was picked fifth, Quincy sixth and Mercyhurst seventh to round out the voting.

        The coaches also selected the 2007 MIVA preseason All-Conference Team comprised of nine players and a libero.  Five squads are represented on the team with IFPW leading the team with three players. Ball State, Ohio State and Loyola-Chicago had two each and Lewis one. Voted to the team from IPFW were C.J. Macias, Josh Stewart and Brock Ulrich. Named from Loyola were Ian Anderson and Joe Guntli and from Ohio State, Daniel Mathews and Robbie Klein. Ball State’s Matt McCarthy and Ian Peckler were named to the team as was Jared Dayton from Lewis.

2008 MIVA Preseason Team Ranking

2008 MIVA All-Conference Preseason Team
 2007 Conference Per Game Averages

(1) 2007 Second Team All-MIVA
(2) 2007 First Team All-MIVA
(3) 2006-07 First Team All-MIVA
(4) 2006-07 First Team All-MIVA, 2007 Player of the Year, 2005 Second Team All-MIVA, 2005 Freshman of the Year
(5) 2006-07 Second Team All-MIVA
(6) 2007 First Team All-MIVA, 2006 Second Team All-MIVA