Ras Delancy named Player of the Year

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Ras Jesse Delancy, in completing his sophomore year at Benedict College, added another feather to his cap when he was selected last week as the 2023 Division II National Player of the Year.

The Division II National Player of the Year is awarded to the nation’s best player on a NCAA Division II men’s volleyball team during the regular season.

While Division I and Division II schools compete for the same national championship and individual awards, this award is the only national player of the year solely for Division II players.

“This was like the icing on the cake,” said Delancy about his latest achievement. “This gave me a different feeling because this wasn’t based on my conference, but it was on all division II schools, so I had a wide range of competition. It was a little different.”

A voting committee of about 30 men’s volleyball coaches and volleyball media members from around the nation determined the winner of the Division II National Player of the Year.

The top three vote-getters were named finalists for the national honour.

Delancy, who played with several Bahamians including Donovan Wilmott, Clint Forbes, Terran Walkin and Zion Beckford, received 30 votes to edge out the runner-up Concordia opposite Uriel Batista by nine votes. Daemen outside attacker Zach Schneider finished in third place with 17 votes.

“When I found out I was a finalist against two other players, my confidence just rose to another level. I just felt that I had it,” Delancy said. “Then it came out and I was actually the winner. It just confirmed how I felt before the announcement was made.”

This is the seventh year that Off the Block has presented the Division II National Player of the Year.

Off the Block is a national award winning website that launched in 2011 and is the nation’s leader in college men’s volleyball coverage.

Delancy had a nation-best 5.38 kills per game average and had seven matches with at least 20 kills, including three matches with more than 30 kills. Among those top offensive performances from Delancy featured a season-high 36 kills in a conference victory against Fort Valley State.

The sophomore also had a career-best .318 attack percentage and was third in the conference averaging 0.33 aces per game to help Benedict reach the SIAC Tournament semifinals.

“I still think I underperformed,” he said. “I know there are some aspects of my game that I need to improve upon. If I strengthen these, I know I would be a much better player. But that’s what I am working on the most right now.

“I’m not really worried about the attacking aspect. It’s more the skills, like my service3 receiving, my blocking and my service. Once I get that down pact to a more consistent level, I know I would be unstoppable.”

Now home from school as he prepares to work out with the local players for the sixth Bahamas Games and the CVC Volleyball Tournament, Delancy said he’s looking forward to transferring to the University of Charleston in West Virginia in August where he hopes to improve on his game.

“I can’t play division one because you have five years to be eligible and I wasn’t aware of that rule,” said Delancy, who just surpassed that clause even though he’s only played volleyball for the past two years.

“Charleston is a good fit for me because we will still get to play division one schools, including the University of California- San Diego, who reached out to me. So I will still get some division one exposure.”

At Charleston, Delancy said he hoped to carry the same intensity level and to help them win the NCAA Division II title.

“For the first time this year, Charleston was ranked nationally as one of the top 15 schools for division one and two,” Delancy pointed out. “So they have an amazing coach and a great programme, so I know once I get there and I put in the same effort and work on the things thatI need to work on, I can get to where I want to go.”

Deancy, 23, even predicted that Charleston could be one of the most feared schools next year and he intends to make his presence felt just as he did at Benedict College.

He is the son of Felicity Ingraham-Darville and Eugene 'Paco' Delancy. His elder brother is Ras Elijah, a golfer who has played on the national team. His other siblings are Malia, Emmanuel, Victory and Victorious and they are considered to be his biggest fans, along with his grandparents golfer Agatha and Eugene Delancy Sr and Agatha Watson and Allan Ingraham, Bahamas Hall of Fame footballer, rugby and basketball player for the Beck’s Cougars.