If there was any doubt Randy Hansen deserved to be the player of the year, it was erased Friday night.

If there were any questions about Pat Barry and Connor Wexter joining Hansen on the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America team, those were answered, too. 

The doubts and the questions about those fellows were taken care of in the most dramatic fashion possible.

Third-ranked Carthage was one point from having its season end five times — FIVE TIMES — in the fifth and deciding set of its quarterfinals match of the inaugural NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship in Springfield College's Blake Arena in Springfield, Mass. The killjoy-to-be was fifth-ranked and reigning champion Nazareth (N.Y.), a familiar foe and foil which last year knocked the Red Men out of the Molten Championship in a five-set semifinals heartbreaker.

Hansen and Barry and Wexter, and Mike Bynon and Jim Schultz, would have none of it. Each of those guys had a kill or an assist on Carthage's last seven points, allowing the third-ranked Red Men (28-5) to make a Houdini-like escape for a 25-21, 27-25, 26-28, 25-21, 18-16 thriller.

And this was ONLY the quarterfinals? Are you serious?

“I'm just glad we came out on the good side of it,” Hansen said.

Truer words were never spoken. As one, the exhales from coach L.J. Marx, his team and everyone in the Carthage camp could have knocked over the larger-than-life bronze statue of James Naismith, who invented basketball in Springfield in 1891, that sits nearby.

Mr. Basketball would have been impressed by Hansen, whose 25 kills were two shy of his collegiate best set Jan. 28 in a five-set victory over Juniata.

“Anybody who saw tonight's match will get their answer on deserving,” Marx said when asked how much Hansen deserved the player of the year honor. “Not that other guys aren't as equally deserving. Obviously, there's a handful of tremendously talented players. We saw a couple tonight on the other side of the net.”

If Only Naismith Had Been There

Mr. Naismith also would have been taken by Messrs. Barry and Wexter. Barry had seven of his collegiate-best 21 assists during the fifth set, three after Carthage fell behind 14-11 in the final set. Wexter established his collegiate high with 64 assists, 10 during the final set and four when Carthage was the on the brink of elimination.

And in case you needed to be reminded, Barry and Wexter are sophomores. That's right, sophomores.

Sometimes overlooked in play of the high-flying Hansen — he sports Air Jordans — is how the focus by opponents on Hansen helps his teammates.

“Randy's a great team player, Barry said. “Part of the reason why I was able to get as many kills as I did that last game was because Randy opens up our offense.”

Matt Yanz also had a big night against Nazareth (27-9), which Carthage beat three times this season. Yanz matched his collegiate best with 13 kills.

And it must be mentioned that Schultz made a kill on a setup from Hansen on the point that made it 17-16, Carthage's first lead in the final set since 1-0. A set by Bynon, who a short time earlier saved a points with a huge dig, allowed Barry to end the match with his seventh kill of the set.

But it all comes back to Hansen. He is the Carthage headliner. He was greeted by a number of players while watching Friday night's first quarterfinal between Rivier and UC Santa Cruz.

“The two things that stand out the most for Randy are, one, he's naturally gifted,” Marx said. “God blessed him with the genes to be an incredible athlete. You also have to combine that with the effort and time that he puts in in the weight room to make himself physically, I would say probably arguably, one of the strongest guys in Division III volleyball. He does. Naturally gifted athlete, but puts more time in in the weight room than you can really imagine. From a physical standpoint, that allows him to be head and shoulders above the net. A lot.

“You combine those two things with a ferocious competitiveness, it makes it scary at times.”

Santa Cruz Coach Weighs In

Not sure if Todd Hollenbeck is scared, but he is the UC Santa Cruz coach who is faced for the fourth time this season with the task of devising a way to slow Hansen.

“I've met him a couple times, had a chance to talk to him a couple times, and not only is he a tremendous athlete, but he's a heck of a guy off the court,” Hollenbeck said. “He's a go-to-guy. Coming from a program that has small outside hitters, I know a good small outside hitter. And he's definitely one of the best that I've ever seen.”

Hansen said he has not always had the incredible hops he has now. He said he has done of a lot of Olympic-style lifts, including squats and snatches.

“That's part of L.J.'s system, pretty much,” Hansen said. “There's no one that's going to be stronger, and more in shape, than we are.

“I take personal pride in that. I know I'm going against people that are way taller than me. So I need to get any edge I possibly can.”

Bynon, a teammate of Hansen's for four years, will vouch for the Hansen work ethic

“I think with Randy, the impression is that you look at how how he can jump, and you want to chalk it up to pure athleticism. I think with him, it's so much more his work ethic that has gotten him there.

“Some guys can naturally walk into a gym, and instantly jump, or instantly be fast. Randy has that, obviously. He has maxed out what God has given him with his body and really made the most of it in the weight room. Randy understood from a young age that he needed to work out to be the best that he could be. He came in a very strong and well put together guy.

“For our senior class, he kind of led the way for the whole program in the whole physical training and weight room work that we all do now. I would doubt any other team in the country, maybe two or three, are lifting as much as we do in the pre-season and the off-season.”

Said Barry: “Over the past two years, coach Marx has done an excellent job of getting us in the weight room, to the point where teams have actually noticed that we're a little beefier than we have been in the past. Randy's the leader of the weight room squad. He spends a lot of his time in the weight room and leads by example.”

The Numbers That Matter Most

And if you need 'em, here are Hansen's statistics.

He came into the tournament second in the nation 4.17 kills per set. He was eighth in hitting percentage at 361 and 32nd in digs per set at 2.27. The number that stands out for Bynon is hitting percentage.

“Eighth in the country for hitting percentage is phenomenal for an outside hitter,” Bynon said. “That is unbelievable for an outside hitter. The guys that are usually going to have the highest hitting percentage are your middle hitters. The don't get set up as much, and they get the higher opportunity shot, and they should be more efficient than your outside hitters.”

Hansen is appreciative of his player of the year honor, which was voted on by a 10-person AVCA committee.

“After we lost to Santa Cruz (in the Continental Volleyball Conference tournament final), I wasn't really sure what was going to happen,” Hansen said. “I know I had a statistically good year, but there's a lot of great players out there. It's just an honor, honestly, to be named player of the year.”

His ambition was not just to be player of the year. He still has one carrot in front of him. 

“This has been my goal for a long time; the opportunity to play for a national championship,” Hansen said.

The Red Men are one step away.

Carthage does not have a great deal of time to catch its breath. It's semifinal with second-ranked UC Santa Cruz begins at 6 p.m. (EDT) on NCAA.com. The winner moves on to Sunday's 4 p.m. title match.

“We've got two more matches to play, hopefully,” Barry said. “Gotta inhale again and get ready for tomorrow.”