PROVO, Utah – Opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez has been named the Springbak/Off the Block National Freshman of Conference Postseason, the organization announced this week.
Fernandez helped lead BYU to an MPSF Championship in conference postseason play with wins against USC and No. 2 seed UCLA to secure the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The National Freshman of Conference Postseason recognizes the best individual performance from a freshman in a NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball conference tournament. There were six conference tournaments this postseason — Big West, Conference Carolinas, EIVA, IVA, MIVA and MPSF.
Fernandez had 12 kills and a team-high two aces, while defensively adding seven digs and four blocks, as BYU beat the Bruins in the MPSF Tournament finals on Saturday. The opposite also finished with a match-high 12 kills on a .556 attack percentage and three aces in the Cougars' sweep of the Trojans in the conference tournament semifinals on Thursday.
This is the third time this season that Fernandez has received a national freshman award. The 2018 MPSF Freshman of the Year was a two-time recipient of the Off the Block National Freshman of the Week award during the regular season.