LEXINGTON, Ky. – The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is proud to announce that Park University men's volleyball coach Mike Talamantes has been selected as the AVCA NAIA Men's National Coach of the Year.

Park is coming off a great run that saw them land their third Tachikara-NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Invitational Tournament Championship in school history with a four set win over No. 1 ranked St. Ambrose. The Pirates now have the second most NAIA Men’s Volleyball national championships in NAIA history with three after winning in 2003 and 2008.  

In just his first year at the helm of both the men’s and women’s programs, Talamantes coached senior Fray Arteaga to his second AVCA All-American appearance.

With a 21-7 record this season, Park clearly had a season to remember. The Pirates saved their best volleyball until the end of the season winning eight of their final nine matches.

Before joining Park as head coach, Talamantes was the head women’s volleyball coach at Occidental College where spent three seasons.  In 2010, Talamantes put his finishing stamp on the Occidental women’s volleyball program, leading the Tigers to a 25-8 record, one of the most successful seasons in school history.

In Talamantes’ first season as head women’s coach at Park, he led the Pirates to a 22-10 overall record and third-place finish in the AMC regular season with its 11-5 mark.

The AVCA will formally present Talamantes his award at the 2012 jostens Coaches Honors Luncheon in Louisville, Ky. on Thursday, December 12.  The luncheon is held in conjunction with the 2012 AVCA Annual Convention.
 

 

-MAMVIC-

 

Grand View's Nikola Vukicevic became the first Viking men's player to earn an AVCA All-America award

LEXINGTON, Ky. –The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is pleased to announce its third annual NAIA Men’s Volleyball All-America Team.

This year's team honors 10 student-athletes: three seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and one freshman.  Four of the distinguished individuals are outside hitters, while three middle blockers, two setters and one right side hitter earn accolades.

Both St. Ambrose University and Missouri Baptist University had two individuals honored, while Cardinal Stritch University, Graceland University, Hope International University, Grand View University, Clarke University and Park University each landed one player on the list. Earning repeat All-America nods were Dan Dowjotas (St. Ambrose University), Anthony Robinson (Graceland University), Fray Arteaga (Park University) and Kyle Schwetz (St. Ambrose University).

The selections were made by the AVCA NAIA Men's Volleyball All-America Committee: Bill Gleeson - Chair (St. Ambrose University), Paul Lawson (Alverno College), Chad McDole (Graceland University), Kristofer Dorn (Clarke University), Donan Cruz (Grand View University) and John Yehling (Missouri Baptist University).

2012 AVCA NAIA MEN'S ALL-AMERICA TEAMS

 

Player	Institution	Pos	Yr	Ht	Hometown
Fray Arteaga**	Park University	OH	Sr.	6'2	Maracay, Venezuela
Gustavo Cintron	Missouri Baptist	RS/Opp.	So.	6'2	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Dan Dowjotas***	St. Ambrose University	OH	Sr.	6'3	Westmont, Illinois
Robert Esser	Missouri Baptist	S	So.	6'4	Gilbert, Arizona
Noah Mader	Cardinal Stritch University	MB	So.	6'7	Appleton, Wisconsin
Danilo Pereira	Hope International	S	Sr.	6'2	Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Anthony Robinson**	Graceland University	OH	Jr.	6'2	Waianae, Hawai'i
Kyle Schwetz**	St. Ambrose University	MB	Jr.	6'5	Carol Stream, Illinois
Nikola Vukicevic	Grand View University	MB	So.	6'6	Belgrade, Serbia
Tyler Wills	Clarke University	OH	Fr.	6'6	Galena, IL

*Denotes number of years named AVCA NAIA Men's All-America

AVCA NAIA Men's National Player of the Year: To be announced Thursday, April 26, 2012

            AVCA Media Relations contributed to this release 

-MAMVIC-