The East Coast Conference announced its 2024 Men’s Volleyball All-Conference honorees and major award winners on Friday afternoon ahead of this weekend’s inaugural ECC Men’s Volleyball Championship. St. Thomas Aquinas freshman outside hitter Kyran Versteegen earned the Player of the Year and All-Conference honors, while freshman setter Joaquin La Jara was named Setter of the Year and freshman outside/opposite hitter Gabriel Vieira took home All-Conference accolades. All voting was completed by the league’s four head coaches.

Versteegen (Sittard, Netherlands), a two-time ECC Player of the Week and three-time ECC Rookie of the Week, ranked second in service aces per set (.43, 15th in the nation), hitting percentage (.247), and total points (231.5), third in points per set (3.36), total service aces (30), and total block assists (35), fourth in total kills (178) and kills per set (2.58), and fifth in total blocks (41) in the ECC this spring. 

Among conference competition only, Versteegen dominated with an ECC-leading 104 total points, 4.73 points per set, .395 hitting percentage, and .55 service aces per set. He also sat second in total kills (83) and kills per set (3.77). 

With 164 assists through 17 sets against conference competition, three-time ECC Setter of the Week La Jara (Lima Peru) averaged an ECC-leading 9.65 assists per set, an average of .87 assists more than the second-highest total in the league. La Jara put up double-digit assist numbers 12 times this season, including 30+ five times against Roberts Wesleyan (39, 39, 31), Merrimack (37), and American International (32). 

Vieira (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) led his Spartans squad in total kills (197), kills per set (2.70) and digs (95) over 21 matches and 73 sets for the maroon and gold. The three-time ECC Player of the Week and two-time Rookie of the week was also second on his team in digs per set (1.30) and accumulated 11 service aces, 3 solo blocks and 36 block assists.

Led by Versteegen, La Jara and Vieira, St. Thomas Aquinas (9-12) earned the inaugural ECC Men’s Volleyball Regular-Season Championship after going 5-1 in regular-season conference play, with sweeps of Roberts Wesleyan and American International and a split with Dominican. The Spartans lead the conference and rank ninth nationally in opponent hitting percentage (.213) and also sit atop the ECC in assists per set (9.61), blocks per set (1.77), and kills per set (10.19) as the No. 1 entering this weekend’s championship.