UST's Ybañez bags UAAP MVP, Rookie of the Year awards

MANILA, Philippines — University of Santo Tomas' Josh Ybañez was a runaway winner of the UAAP Season 85 men's volleyball tournament Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards.

The 20-year-old open hitter from General Santos City dominated with a whopping 96.00 statistical points (SP), which was 22.863 points higher than the closest competitor, Michaelo Buddin of National University who had 73.137 SP.

Ybañez became the first UST player to win the season MVP since Mark Alfafara, who is now coach Odjie Mamon's staff, in 2015.

Ybañez excelled in multiple categories, ranking second in scoring with 292 points, first in spiking with a high success rate of 45.74%, first in service with 0.36 aces per set, and second in reception with an efficiency rate of 56.99%.

The Golden Spiker became the first rookie MVP since Season 76 when Marck Espejo of Ateneo de Manila University achieved the feat back in 2013-14.

Ybañez became the first UST player to win the season MVP since Mark Alfafara, who also hails from GenSan and is now coach Odjie Mamon's staff, in 2013-14 (Season 75).

Nico Almendras of NU actually ranked second in SP with 77.843, but he was disqualified from receiving any individual honors due to a one-set suspension he received during their game against University of the East on March 12. This suspension stemmed from a post-game incident with University of the Philippines on March 8.

Other awards

Ybañez also secured the 1st Best Outside Spiker recognition by a wide margin, accumulating 371 ranking points (RP). With Almendras' disqualification, Buddin received the 2nd Best Outside Spiker award.

Buddin ranked fourth in service (0.24 per set), seventh in blocking (0.49 per set), and eighth in spiking (37.76 percent), earning him 260 RP.

Buddin and University of the East's Kenneth Culabat actually tied in RP, but the former had more attack RP, 51-43, which gave him the award.

NU's Congolese student-athlete, Obed Mukaba, was hailed as the 1st Best Middle Blocker with an average of almost one rejection per set (0.92) for 204 RP. De La Salle University's Billie Anima was the 2nd Best Middle Blocker with 0.65 per frame, accumulating 153 RP.

Another UST rookie, Jay Rack Dela Noche, was hailed as the Best Opposite Spiker, ranking third in service and 15th in attacking, earning 177 RP. NU's Ken Malinis (198 RP) was also disqualified for the same reason as Almendras.

NU's Joshua Retamar earned the Best Setter award, while Ateneo's Lance De Castro was named the Best Libero, completing the list of awardees.

Retamar was a clear-cut winner, ranking first in setting, seventh in service, 11th in digging, and 14th in blocking, accumulating 242 RP.

Meanwhile, De Castro was the top digger with an average of 3.00 per set, and he also placed sixth in reception with an efficiency rate of 49.68%, earning 180 RP.

Since UAAP Season 81, the league has been adopting the FIVB-position based awards.

The statistical points are computed by adding all the Rank Points of each player and multiplying the sum by 10. Games won are also included and multiplied by 30. The grand total is then divided by the number of sets played by the player's team.

Rank Points are determined by the player's place in each department, with each rank having corresponding Rank Points.

The cutoff has always been set after the elimination round.