Long Beach State University Athletics
Andrew Sato Wins 2017 Erik Shoji Award for Nation's Best Libero
4/27/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
Off the Block Release
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Andrew Sato has put together quite the senior season for himself as he became Long Beach State's all-time digs leader, helped the Beach win their first-ever MPSF Championship, secure a trip to the NCAA Tournament, and has now been presented the 2017 Erik Shoji Award for the nation's top libero. The announcement was made Thursday afternoon by Off the Block.
Sato concluded the regular season leading the MPSF and ranking seventh in the country with 2.48 digs per set, including a career-high 23 digs earlier this season. The All-MPSF selection registered 11 double-digit digs performances this season to total 44 in his career, setting a new Long Beach State program record.
The Calabasas, Calif., native has tallied a total of 973 digs in his career to become Long Beach State's new all-time digs leader. He is the first-ever 49er men's volleyball player to reach 900 digs, as well as the 15th player in MPSF history to reach that feat.
Sato became the only libero all season long to earn MPSF Player of the Week accolades and was the first libero to take home the conference weekly award in over two years.
With 52 votes, Sato more than doubled the number of votes by the second-place finisher as he ran away with the award which is named for Erik Shoji, the former Stanford All-American and U.S. Olympian libero. The award is presented to the nation's best libero in NCAA Division I-II men's volleyball during the regular season.
Erik Shoji Award (Voting Results)
1 Andrew Sato, Long Beach State - 52 votes
2 Joshua Ayzenberg, Sacred Heart - 21 votes
3 Evan Enriques, Stanford - 14 votes
T4 Dillon Hoffman, UC Irvine - 11 votes
T4 Larry Tuileta, Hawaii - 11 votes
6 Keenen Freitas, Lees-McRae - 7 votes
7 Bryan Cardozo, Erskine - 3 votes
8 Gabriel Domecus, Ohio State - 2 votes
T9 Joshua Donahue, Mount Olive - 1 vote
T9 Dustin King, North Greenville - 1 vote
T9 Nick Lavanchy, Ball State - 1 vote
T9 Erik Sikes, BYU - 1 vote
T9 Michael Simmons, Lewis - 1 vote
