CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (MCVL.org) - On the cusp of crowning a tournament champion and awarding an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships, the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League announced its All-Conference Teams as voted on by the league's coaches, celebrating the accomplishments of 16 student-athletes, representing seven of the league's 10 teams.
As regular season champions and the top-ranked program in the country, it should be no surprise that Carthage took home four First Team All-MCVL picks in Matt Reinsel, Matt Silvinski, Evan Walsh and Eric Winter. For Reinsel, he becomes the first four-time First Team All-Conference player in league history. His 12.18 assists per set ranks first in the nation, as part of an offense that leads Division III at 13.79 kills per set. Evan Walsh collected his second First Team All-Conference honor, led in part by his 3.69 kills per set that ranked in the top-15 nationally and led the MCVL.
Defensively, Winter was a machine at the net for the Red Men, averaging 1.41 blocks per set in league play and finished the season with seventh in Division III at 1.04 blocks per set. Silvinski totaled 259 kills this season including 86 in the MCVL. His 3.74 kills per set rate was good for third in the league this year.
One word is all that's needed to describe the play of Emir Hadzisalihovic … dominant. Simply put, the Fontbonne senior recorded a kill on nearly half of his attempts, leading the nation in the process with a .498 attack percentage. In MCVL action, Hadzisalihovic hit .463 while also totaling 31 blocks, defensively. Joining Hadzisalihovic on the First Team this season is Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell, the play-caller of the Griffins' offensive unit. Behind Reinsel, van Rossum-O'Connell was the second-best distributor, averaging 10.60 assists per set in the MCVL and 10.72 overall, which ranked third in Division III.
Loras experienced a season-full of firsts in 2019, which included its first 20-win season along with the first time the program received a First Team All-MCVL selection. Prior to 2019, the Duhawks had earned three All-MCVL picks, with all three coming as Second Team selections. Led by the play of Mihajlo Gomez and Grant Ooms, Loras carried with it an electric offense with Gomez and Ooms combining for 224 kills in league play, good for an average of 7.00 per set and nearly 25 per match. When Gomez wasn't putting away kills, he was leading the conference in service aces per set at .70, a statistic that ranked him fifth in Division III.
Headlining the All-MCVL Second Team was the trio from North Central in Anthony Kluzak, Bozhidar Kolev and Jacob Zemba. Kolev repeated as a Second Team pick from a season ago while Kluzak and Zemba earned postseason accolades for the first time in their careers.
Following the North Central trio, this year's Second Team included three repeat honorees from the 2018 All-MCVL honor roll in Adrian's Noah Marcinkowski, Augustana's Matthew Schiferl and Fontbonne's Zach Rothstein.
Earning All-MCVL designation for the first time in their careers were Patrick Hollander from Loras and Jason Hascher from Mount St. Joseph.
2019 MCVL All-Conference Teams
First Team
Matt Reinsel (Carthage)
Matt Silvinski (Carthage)
Evan Walsh (Carthage)
Eric Winter (Carthage)
Emir Hadzisalihovic (Fontbonne)
Kyler van Rossum-O'Connell (Fontbonne)
Mihajlo Gomez (Loras)
Grant Ooms (Loras)
Second Team
Noah Marcinkowski (Adrian)
Matthew Schiferl (Augustana)
Zach Rothstein (Fontbonne)
Patrick Hollander (Loras)
Jason Hascher (Mount St. Joseph)
Anthony Kluzak (North Central)
Bozhidar Kolev (North Central)
Jacob Zemba (North Central)