Four Cougars receive AVCA All-America honors

PROVO, Utah – The American Volleyball Coaches Association named four BYU men’s volleyball players to its All-America lists and named Gabi Garcia Fernandez the AVCA Newcomer of the Year, the organization announced Monday.

Senior outside hitter Brenden Sander collected AVCA First-Team All-America honors, while opposite Fernandez received AVCA Second-Team All-America honors in addition to his Newcomer of the Year accolades. Senior middle blocker Price Jarman and senior setter Leo Durkin were each added to the AVCA Honorable Mention All-America list.

Sander, from Huntington Beach, Calif., collects his second First Team honor, having also received the distinction as a sophomore. He helps BYU this season with 3.43 kills per set, 0.96 digs per set and 0.39 aces per set. This is Sander’s third-career All-America honor.

Fernandez, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, picks up Second Team accolades after leading the Cougars in kills per set (3.44), aces per set (0.48) and digs per set (1.32) while adding 0.83 blocks per set.

Jarman, from Las Vegas, Nev., picks up All-America honors for the second time in his career, having made the Honorable Mention list a year ago. Despite an injury during the season, Jarman contributed 1.15 blocks per set and 1.45 kills per set while hitting at a .421 clip.

Durkin, also from Las Vegas, Nev., collects his third-straight Honorable Mention honor. He set the team to a .312 hitting percentage while contributing 10.11 assists per set, 1.30 digs per set and 0.70 blocks per set. 

The 2018 selections were made by the AVCA Division I-II Men’s Volleyball All-America Committee: Alan Knipe (Long Beach State), Charlie Wade (Hawaii), David Heller (Mount Olive), Ryan Booher (King), Danny Goncalves (NJIT), Mike Rumbaugh (Saint Francis), Dan Friend (Lewis), Mark Hulse (Loyola Chicago), Shawn Olmstead (BYU) and Jeff Nygaard (USC).

Visit the AVCA website for more information on the AVCA All-America teams.

BYU competes in the NCAA tournament next, facing the winner of UCLA vs. Harvard Thursday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m. PDT, at Pauley Pavilion. The match will be streamed live on NCAA.com.