Quiet but effective.
Such has been the M.O. for Hawaii middle Guilherme Voss. His statistics have not been eye-popping, but the Brazilian national has continued to be solid, with key contributions for the undefeated Rainbow Warriors (14-0).
His performances haven’t gone unnoticed by the Big West. For the second consecutive week, Voss was selected Freshman of the Week, his third award of the season.
He helped No. 1 Hawaii to two road sweeps of then-No. 11 Stanford last week, with five kills both Friday and Saturday, with a combined .471 hitting percentage on just two errors. Voss also had team highs of four blocks the first night and five the second for Hawaii, which hadn’t swept at Stanford since 2006.
The Warriors have won seven straight-set matches, 12 overall, and have dropped just two sets, one each at Lewis and Loyola. Last season, Hawaii set an NCAA record for consecutive sets won with 74, opening 2019 with 24 sweeps in a row.
Also on Monday, Hawaii remained atop the American Volleyball Coaches Association Men’s Division I-II Top 15. The Warriors received 12 of the 16 first-place votes — one more than last week — with No. 2 Brigham Young (13-0) receiving the other four.
Hawaii and BYU are the only unbeaten teams left in the country. The two meet for a pair of nonconference matches at the Stan Sheriff Center on March 5 and 6.
The Warriors are on a bye week and return to play when they host two exhibition matches against Nittaidai of Japan, Feb. 26 and 28.
Hawaii was one of five Big West teams in the top 10 on Monday, with only Cal State Northridge (3-9) unranked. UC Santa Barbara (8-2) and Long Beach State (7-1) stayed at Nos. 3 and 4.
UC Irvine (7-5) is tied with Pepperdine (6-3) at No. 6 and UC San Diego (11-3) moved up to No. 10. Last Saturday, the Tritons rallied past the Anteaters in Irvine, Calif., the five-set victory UCSD’s first Big West win since the conference was established in 2018. It also snapped a 27-match conference losing streak dating to 2017, when the Tritons were in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.