April 2, 2009
JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The North East Collegiate Volleyball Association released its annual All-Division awards on Thursday, and five Gulls were named All-New England and head coach Tim Byram received the Division Coach of the Year award after leading the Gulls to a regular season championship. A.J. Witkofsky (Scotia, N.Y.) and John Emery (Westford, Mass.) were named First Team selections while Dan Coleman (Millis, Mass.), Ben Foster (Penfield, N.Y.), and Brent Feldman (West Palm Beach, Fla.) took home Second Team honors.
Sophomore outside hitter Justin Brubaker (Telford, Pa.) of Philadelphia Biblical University is the lone repeat winner, while sophomore Wojciech Jakubiak (Poland) of Hunter College, Matt Ferreira (Lincoln, R.I.) of Rivier College, Andrew Cranford (Bel Air, Md.) of Stevens Institute of Technology and Alberto Bravo (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) of Elms College have been selected as the five North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Divisional Players of the Year for the 2009 season, in voting conducted within each of the 43-team conference's five divisions--CUNYAC, GNAC, Metro, New England and Western. Cranford, who was named Metro Player of the Year for the first time, completes his career at Stevens as a four-time First-Team All-Metro selection while Brubaker takes the Western Player of the Year for the second straight season. Bravo earns the New England Player of the Year after being that division's Rookie of the Year in 2008.
In all, a record 74 student-athletes were named either First or Second-Team All-Division this season. Those players named to a divisional First-Team will be eligible for NECVA All-Conference honors, which will be announced at the league's annual banquet during this weekend's NECVA Tournament, on Saturday, April 4 at 7 p.m. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
For the second straight year Elms and Hunter are the home of their division's Rookie of the Year winners. The five Rookie of the Year winners are Eric Barty (Jamaica, N.Y.) of Hunter, Brendan McGourn (Southington, Conn.) of Lasell College, Kevin Stross (Port Washington, N.Y.) of SUNY New Paltz, Sequiel Sanchez Velez (San Sebastian, Puerto Rico) of Elms and Billy Gimello (Hauppague, N.Y.) of Nazareth College.
Craig Kolek, who was New England Division Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006, wins the GNAC Division Coach of the Year for 2008 after his team ended the regular season on a 29-match winning streak and a 32-1 record, as well as the \#1 seed in the NECVA Tournament. Don Vanderbeck, who won the NECVA Conference Coach of the Year award in 1995 and 1996, takes the Metro Division Coach of the Year honor for the first time since the award was split amongst the divisions in 2005. Second-year coach Eder Mathelier of New York City College of Technology wins the CUNYAC Coach of the Year after the Yellow Jackets went 16-9 and vaulted into third place in the division this year. Tim Bryam of Endicott College led the Gulls to a 21-11 regular season and the club's first New England Division title and is the New England Division Coach of the Year for the first time. Cal Wickens has built Nazareth College into a national power in a short amount of time, and for the second time in three seasons, he was selected the Western Division Coach of the Year.
Four players--Dan Coleman (Millis, Mass.) of Endicott, Cranford of Stevens, Shane Donohue (Freehold Township, N.J.) of Ramapo and Danial Levent (Forest Hills, N.Y.) of Baruch College--earned All-Division honors, either First or Second Team, for the fourth time in their four-year careers. Juniors Ivan Andujar (Carolina, Puerto Rico) of Elms, Zacarias Ripoll (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) of Hunter, Michael Townsend (Beavertown, Va.) of Emmanuel College, A.J. Witkofsky (Scotia, N.Y.) of Endicott and Radu Wyrwas (Bialystok, Poland) of Baruch, each took home All-Divisional honors for the third consecutive season to open their careers.
To view the complete 2009 NECVA All-Division Teams, please click here.
