Thorne Wins a Pair of National Awards
May 28, 2025 | Men's Volleyball
LOS ANGELES - Off the Block announced that a nationwide voting committee has selected UCLA middle blocker Cameron Thorne as the winner of the 2025 Ryan Millar Award as the nation's top middle attacker and of the 2025 Dain Blanton Diversity Award, which recognizes the top NCAA Division I-II men's volleyball player of a minority ethnicity.
This is the first time that Thorne has earned the Ryan Millar award, and marks the third straight year a Bruin has been chosen as the winner of the Ryan Millar Award, which is named after the former BYU All-American and U.S. Olympian. Prior to Thorne's recognition, Merrick McHenry also won the award in both 2024 and 2023.
Thorne, a junior, was named a first-team AVCA All-America honoree and a first-team MPSF all-conference selection in 2025. A transfer from GCU, 2025 marked Thorne's second career All-America honors after earning first-team honors in 2024 while at GCU. Thorne recorded the highest hitting percentage of any player in the MPSF conference in 2025, finishing with a hitting percentage of .521. The Hollywood, Florida, native recorded 201 kills and also finished second in the conference in blocks by averaging 1.10 blocks per set. Thorne finished with 113 blocks across 103 sets played, including 13 solo blocks. Thorne's blocks per set number of 1.06 is good for 13th nationally, and his total blocks number of 100 is the 12th most of any player in the country.
Thorne recorded 15 kills in UYCLA's win at #3 UC Irvine on February 19, before tallying a career-high 17 kills in UCLA's win over #3 UC Irvine on February 22. For his efforts that week, Thorne was named AVCA National Player of the Week and MPSF Offensive Player of the Week. The junior finished with double digit kills in six matches throughout the year, and added five or more blocks in nine matches in 2025, including a season-high seven blocks against Stanford and at CSUN.
The voting committee for the Ryan Millar Award was comprised of more than 20 college men's volleyball head coaches and volleyball reporters from around the nation. This is the 10th year that Off the Block has presented the Ryan Millar Award. UCLA's Daenan Gyimah won the award following the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons.
The Dain Blanton Diversity Award, which is named after the former Pepperdine All-American and U.S. Olympian, recognizes the top NCAA Division I-II men's volleyball player during the regular season of a minority ethnicity. This is the only national award in college men's volleyball created specifically to celebrate the outstanding individual performances of minority players. UCLA's Daenan Gyimah was the 2019 winner of the award, while McHenry also earned the honor in 2024.
This is the first time that Thorne has earned the Ryan Millar award, and marks the third straight year a Bruin has been chosen as the winner of the Ryan Millar Award, which is named after the former BYU All-American and U.S. Olympian. Prior to Thorne's recognition, Merrick McHenry also won the award in both 2024 and 2023.
Thorne, a junior, was named a first-team AVCA All-America honoree and a first-team MPSF all-conference selection in 2025. A transfer from GCU, 2025 marked Thorne's second career All-America honors after earning first-team honors in 2024 while at GCU. Thorne recorded the highest hitting percentage of any player in the MPSF conference in 2025, finishing with a hitting percentage of .521. The Hollywood, Florida, native recorded 201 kills and also finished second in the conference in blocks by averaging 1.10 blocks per set. Thorne finished with 113 blocks across 103 sets played, including 13 solo blocks. Thorne's blocks per set number of 1.06 is good for 13th nationally, and his total blocks number of 100 is the 12th most of any player in the country.
Thorne recorded 15 kills in UYCLA's win at #3 UC Irvine on February 19, before tallying a career-high 17 kills in UCLA's win over #3 UC Irvine on February 22. For his efforts that week, Thorne was named AVCA National Player of the Week and MPSF Offensive Player of the Week. The junior finished with double digit kills in six matches throughout the year, and added five or more blocks in nine matches in 2025, including a season-high seven blocks against Stanford and at CSUN.
The voting committee for the Ryan Millar Award was comprised of more than 20 college men's volleyball head coaches and volleyball reporters from around the nation. This is the 10th year that Off the Block has presented the Ryan Millar Award. UCLA's Daenan Gyimah won the award following the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons.
The Dain Blanton Diversity Award, which is named after the former Pepperdine All-American and U.S. Olympian, recognizes the top NCAA Division I-II men's volleyball player during the regular season of a minority ethnicity. This is the only national award in college men's volleyball created specifically to celebrate the outstanding individual performances of minority players. UCLA's Daenan Gyimah was the 2019 winner of the award, while McHenry also earned the honor in 2024.
Players Mentioned
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