2012 Men's Volleyball All-MPSF Selections Announced
April 19, 2012
Senior two-time All-American and 2012 National Player of the Year candidate Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach, CA/Huntington Beach HS) has 1,570 kills, 649 digs, 276 blocks and 157 aces in his career entering his final postseason run. He currently is first nationally in aces per set (0.60), and his 157 career and 52 aces this year are USC rally scoring era records (he is approaching the USC all-era marks of 164 and 63, respectively). Ciarelli was named the AVCA National and MPSF Player of the Week (Feb. 27) after leading USC to wins at No. 11 Pacific (17 kills, 8 digs, 4 blocks) and at No. 1 Stanford (28 kills while hitting .451, 11 digs). He had seven aces at Pepperdine this season, one shy of then the school record he shared (including a stretch of four aces during a streak of 13 consecutive serves), before adding six aces at UCLA in his next match on the way to claiming his second MPSF Player of the Week honor. He was named MPSF Player of the Week on April 16 for a conference-best third time in 2012 after leading USC to sweeps at No. 8 Long Beach State (serving an MPSF and USC all-era match-record 11 aces) and in the MPSF title-clinching win at No. 11 Cal State Northridge (match-high 19 kills with just one error, hitting an astronomical .818). He was named a 2012 National Strength and Conditioning All-American and Athlete of the Year, in recognition of his dedication to strength training and conditioning. With Murphy Troy earning player of the year in 2011, this marks the first time since 1998 & 1999 (George Roumain-Pepperdine, both years) that the same school has produced the award in back-to-back years.
2012 MPSF Freshman of the Year
MICAH CHRISTENSON · #5 · FRESHMAN · SETTER · USC
USC freshman setter Micah Christenson (Honolulu, HI/Kamehameha-Kapalama HS) ranked fourth in the nation in assist average (10.92 A/S) through the regular season, helping the Trojans defend their regular season conference title. He guided the Trojans to a .296 overall attack, ranking fifth in the MPSF and eighth in the nation. Christenson is one of the most decorated players ever from Hawaii and has transitioned immediately into the starting job at USC, and is a 2012 candidate for All-American and National Freshman of the Year. A two-time prep All-American, he was the state's player of the year in both volleyball and basketball in Hawaii, while leading his team to state titles in both sports. He started for the U.S. Youth National and Junior National teams the past 4 years, helping the Junior National squad to a best-ever fourth place at the 2011 FIVB Junior World Championship.