Off the Block Preseason All-American Teams

NEWARK, NJ—NJIT senior Jabarry Goodridge has been selected to the 2017 Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Preseason All-American team, the organization announced Monday.

Goodridge, a second-team honoree, is coming off a strong performance in 2016.  The outside hitter from Bridgetown, Barbados, became the Highlanders' first Division I-II honorable mention and second all-time American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-American honoree.

The 2016 co-Uvaldo Acosta Memorial Player of the Year in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (with Chris Nugent of Penn State), was one of five EIVA players honored on the 2016 All-America team by the AVCA, joining Nugent, Branden Clemens (Harvard), Johnny Gomez (George Mason), and Mike Marshman (Saint Francis University).

He was selected Sports Imports/AVCA Division I-II National Player of the Week on March 29, marking the second such honor for an NJIT player and first since NJIT became a Division I institution.

A first-team All-EIVA honoree, Goodridge, recorded double-digit kills in 21-out-of-23 matches this season, including five 20-plus kill performances and a career-best 30 kills vs. Princeton.

The Highlanders outside hitter, ranked fourth in the nation in kills per set (4.38) and 36th in hitting percentage (.303).  He led the EIVA in total kills (390) and kills per set (4.38) while ranking fourth in hitting percentage and fifth in service aces per set (0.33).

The Highlanders open the 2017 season at Loyola-Chicago, a 20-win team in 2016, on January 5.  Two days later, NJIT will take on Lewis on January 7 in Chicago.  Lewis finished with a 19-13 overall mark last season.

OFF THE BLOCK/SPRINGBAK, INC. FIRST-TEAM PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
Setter: Micha Ma'a, UCLA
Setter: Josh Tuaniga, Long Beach State
Opposite: Miles Johnson, Ohio State
Opposite: Ben Patch, BYU
Outside attacker: TJ DeFalco, Long Beach State
Outside attacker: Brenden Sander, BYU
Outside attacker: Nicolas Szerszen, Ohio State
Middle attacker: Jeff Jendryk, Loyola
Middle attacker: Mitch Stahl, UCLA
Libero: Evan Enriques, Stanford

OFF THE BLOCK/SPRINGBAK, INC. SECOND-TEAM PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
 Setter: Christy Blough, Ohio State
Opposite: Kyle Ensing, Long Beach State
Opposite: Jabarry Goodridge, NJIT
Opposite: Tamir Hershko, UC Irvine
Opposite: Mitch Perinar, Lewis
Outside attacker: Jake Arnitz, UCLA
Outside attacker: Jake Langlois, BYU
Outside attacker: Chris Nugent, Penn State
Middle attacker: Price Jarman, BYU
Libero: Johnny Gomez, George Mason

About Off the Block
The annual Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Preseason All-American Teams recognizes the NCAA Division I-II men's volleyball players projected to be the best in the nation during the upcoming season.

The preseason teams are selected by a nationwide voting committee of college men's volleyball coaches and media members. A voter can select up to 10 players on each of their Preseason First-Team All-American ballot and Preseason Second-Team All-American ballot.

A player getting a first-team vote will receive two points, and a second-team vote will be one point. The 10 players with the most votes will be named a Preseason First-Team All-American, while the next 10 players will be named a Preseason Second-Team All-American. The only exception to this voting system to determine the All-American teams is that at least one libero, middle attacker, opposite outside attacker and setter will be on both the first team and second team.