After winning the Outrigger Invitational with three wins over top-15 opponents in four days, the Hawaii men’s volleyball team earned the No. 1 ranking in the AVCA/NVA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Poll released today.

The Rainbow Warriors (17-1), who have won 16 straight matches, earned their first No. 1 ranking of the season and received 15 of 23 first-place votes to move ahead of previous No. 1 Grand Canyon and No. 2 Long Beach State.

Hawaii will begin Big West Conference play this Friday and Saturday with two matches against the 49ers at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.

Sophomore middle blocker Kurt Nusterer was named the Big West Defensive Player of the Week today while setter Tread Rosenthal earned his sixth BWC Freshman of the Week award.

Nusterer had 18 blocked in three wins in the Outrigger tournament with nine coming in Sunday’s win over No. 5 UC Irvine.

He’s tied for second in the Big West, averaging 1.0 blocks per set.

Rosenthal averaged 9.64 assists and 1.09 blocks per set while serving up four aces in the Outrigger tournament.

UH earned the top spot in the poll for the 76th time in program history, matching Brigham Young for the second-most all-time.

This is the sixth consecutive season Hawaii has been ranked No. 1 at least once, which no other school has ever accomplished.

Senior outside hitter Spyros Chakas, a two-time, second-team All-American, was injured on match point in Sunday’s win when he went down with an apparent left knee injury. No official word on his status has been released by the school.