FIRST TEAM Name
in the AVCA Men’s Division I –II Men’s Poll for most of the year. The two schools (separated by 43 miles) featured 19 homegrown players from Illinois on the two rosters. Thomas Jaeschke, who was named the AVCA Player
of the Year, was drained after Loyola-Chicago’s marathon fi fth set against the Flyers. “It was like, who can put the ball away? Who can keep grinding?” Jaeschke said. “I give a lot of credit to Lewis. They pushed us super far. And I’ve got to give a ton of credit to our guys. I thought we played for each other out there.” Jaeschke made his U.S. Men’s National Team debut two weeks later in a sweep of Mexico in the NORCECA Men’s Champions Cup opener, becoming the fi rst Ram- bler in school history to see action and score points for the men’s national team. USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal, who played his collegiate volleyball at Ohio State and also coached the U.S. to its fi rst Olympic gold medal in volleyball (1984), was not gloating about the third national title for a MIVA school in fi ve years (Ohio State won the crown in 2011), but he was delighted by the quality of play he witnessed at Stanford.
2015 AVCA DIVISION I-II MEN’S ALL-AMERICANS School
Position Year Taylor Averill Michael Brinkley Hawaii UC Irvine
Micah Christenson Southern California Tamir Hershko Zack La Cavera Geoff Powell Aaron Russell Josh Taylor Matt West
UC Irvine UC Irvine Lewis
Penn State Pepperdine Pepperdine
SECOND TEAM Name
Eric Fitterer Peter Hutz
Parker Kalmbach Cody Kessel Greg Petty
Brook Sedore Jonah Seif
Bobby Walsh Lucas Yanez
AVCA PLAYER OF THE YEAR Thomas Jaeschke
“It was impressive volleyball displayed by both teams,” Beal said. “Sometimes I don’t think the rankings during the season are a true indicator who the best teams are, but in this case with Lewis and Loyola being one-two most of the year I think we saw the best two teams in the fi nals. They certainly were the best teams at Stanford that week and it was one of the higher quality matches I have seen in the fi nals in a long time.” Beal praised both Loyola-Chicago Head Coach Shane Davis and Lewis Head Coach Dan Friend for the programs they have built. “A big part of what makes a successful program is how the school and
AVCA COACH OF THE YEAR Dan Friend
School Lewis
Loyola-Chicago Pepperdine Princeton Lewis Hawaii
UC Santa Barbara Lewis Lewis
Loyola-Chicago
AVCA NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR Jeff Jendryk
Loyola-Chicago Lewis
the community embraces the team,” he said. “They obviously have done a great job in that aspect and it’s exciting and what the sport needs.”
It took 10 championship points for the Ramblers to fi nally put a stubborn and stunned Lewis team away in the championship match. Jaeschke had 20 kills and AVCA Newcomer of the Year Jeff Jendryk added 17 and a match-high nine blocks for the Ramblers (28-2), whose only two losses were to the Flyers. Jendryk, a composed fresh- man, was also named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstand- ing Player.
RAMBLERS’ ROAR: Loyola Chicago’s other middle blocker, Nicholas Olson, added fi repower for the Ram- blers, who fi nished the season 28-2.
Loyola swept Pfeiffer (N.C.) in a tournament play-in match on May 5. In the semifi nals, the Ramblers then defeated UC Irvine, a team that was charging into the postseason, but ran into the Rambler wall. Jaeschke, who became the fi rst-ever Rambler to win the national player of the year award and third outside of the MPSF, scored nine kills in the victory over the Anteaters.
Lewis, seeded fi rst in the tournament, advanced to the title match with a 3-1 victory over Penn State in the semifi nals. Davis said the emotion of trying to repeat was released after a match-ending block ended a season long tug-of-war with Lewis. “We had our big lineup in at that point,” he said. “I saw it coming and I was just praying that all six hands were across the net and they were. It was an unbelievable moment.” “I think it was a statement,” Jaeschke said of the second championship. “But it was a product of a lot of hard work.” Last season, the Ramblers upset top-seeded Stanford 3-1 for
the school’s fi rst NCAA championship. Davis joins a small and elite list of coaches who have won more than one title. More impressively, he became only the second men’s coach to win back-to-back NCAA titles. UCLA’s Al Scates did it eight times. Lewis, a Division II school of about 6,800 students, has nearly come full circle after having the 2003 title vacated for using ineligible players. Friend, named the AVCA National Coach of the Year, has led the program’s resurgence. “Well, I think we gave you a match to remember for a long, long, time,” he said.
USAVOLLEYBALL.ORG | 35
Sr. Sr.
Hometown
MB RS-Sr. San Jose, Caiif. L S
OH So. OPP Sr.
Huntington Beach, Calif. Honolulu, Hawaii
Hod Ha’Sharon, Israel Huntington Beach, Calif.
OH RS-Sr. Claremont, Calif. OH Sr. OH Sr. S
Sr.
Position Year OPP Sr. S
Jr. Hometown
Edwardsville, Ill. Whitefi sh Bay, Wis.
OPP RS-Sr. Coto de Caza, Calif. OH Sr. OH Sr. OPP Sr. S
Jr.
MB Jr. L
Sr. OH Jr. MB Fr. Burbank, Calif. Wheaton, Ill. Wheaton, Ill.
Colorado Springs, Colo. Downers Grove, Ill.
Grande Prairie, Alberta, Can. Thousand Oaks, Calif. Chicago, Ill.
Ellicott City, Md. Honolulu, Hawaii Seattle, Wash.
PHOTO: LOYOLA CHICAGO
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