No. 1 Warriors place 6 on All-Big West men’s volleyball first team
IRVINE, Calif. >> Hawaii placed a school-record six players on the All-Big West Men’s Volleyball first team released today.
Setter Jakob Thelle, outside hitter Spyros Chakas and middle blocker Guilherme Voss repeated as first-team all-conference selections and were joined by opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias, outside hitter Chaz Galloway and libero Brett Sheward on this season’s 14-player list.
UH middle blocker Kurt Nusterer also earned recognition on the nine-member Big West All-Freshman team.
The Warriors placed nearly their entire starting lineup on the first team after clinching a share of the Big West regular-season title and the top seed in this week’s conference tournament in Irvine, Calif. UH’s first-team total surpassed the program’s previous high of five in 2019.
Thelle was the Big West Player of the Year last season and led UH to a .390-hitting percentage in conference play. Mouchlias hit a league-high .392 in Big West matches to move up from honorable mention last season. Galloway, an honorable mention pick in 2021, ranks just behind Mouchlias with a .389. Chakas averages 2.94 kills per set on .283 hitting and is second in the conference play with 0.56 aces per set. Voss ranks second with 1.28 blocks per set and is hitting .602. The conference honor is the first for Sheward, who averages 2.13 digs per set overall and filled for Thelle at setter in non-conference play.
The Big West’s Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Freshman of the Year awards will be announced next Tuesday (April 25).
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Punahou graduate and UC Santa Barbara outside hitter Ryan Wilcox also made the first team for the second straight year.
Big West regular season co-champion Long Beach State, the tournament’s second seed, placed four players on the first team — libero Mason Briggs, outside hitters Spencer Olivier and Sotiris Siapanis and middle blocker Simon Torwie. UC Irvine had two selections in outside hitter Hilir Henno and opposite Francesco Sani.
The top-ranked Rainbow Warriors (26-2) have a bye in the first round of the Big West Championship and will face fourth-seeded UC Santa Barbara or fifth-seeded UC San Diego in a semifinal match on Friday at 2 p.m. at the Bren Events Center. The first two days of the tournament will be televised by Spectrum Sports. Saturday’s match will air nationally on ESPNU. ESPN Honolulu (1420-AM/92.7-FM) will carry radio coverage of UH’s matches.
