by California Baptist Athletics on 2016-07-20
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Enrique de Diego Garcia was officially named the NCAA Division I-II statistical champion in hitting percentage for the 2016 season on Monday. Garcia is the first NCAA statistical champion in the California Baptist University men's volleyball program.
Overall, the middle blocker posted a .481 attack percentage, with a total of 209 kills and just 27 errors on 378 attempts on the year. Conrad Kaminski of Stanford was the runner-up in hitting percentage with a .478.
It wraps up a stellar sophomore season for Garcia, who was named an honorable mention on the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American and on the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation all-conference teams earlier. He also qualified for the MPSF All-Academic team at the end of May and received Player of the Week honors from the MPSF and AVCA during the season.
In addition to being an efficient offensive weapon with 2.07 kills per set, Garcia ranked 18th in the NCAA in blocks per set this year, with a 1.04. The Spain native blocked a total of 105 shots (98 assists, seven solo) and also logged 24 digs and 10 aces.
Garcia helped guide CBU to a 14-16, 4-16 in the MPSF record this season. It was the Lancers' best season in the MPSF since 2013 when they went 16-14, 12-12. This year, the team was undefeated (8-0) against non-conference foes and 11-1 against unranked competition.