RADO PARAPUNOV, HAWAI‘I
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior • Opposite • Sofia, Bulgaria • National High School of Math
• Senior Rado Parapunov earned his fifth Big West Men’s Volleyball Player of the Week award, helping propel Hawai‘i to an undefeated conference record.
• The 6-9 opposite added to his Big West record with his 15th career honor, having collected two in 2018, five in 2019 and three in 2020.
• Parapunov averaged 4.75 kills, 1.00 digs and 0.63 service aces per set while hitting .423 (38-8-71) in a pair of wins against UC Irvine.
• He notched a match-high 25 kills on .426 hitting in Friday’s five-set victory, collecting 22 of those over the final three sets. He had nine of the team’s 11 kills in the fifth set with no errors in 12 attempts.
• Parapunov posted 13 kills on .417 hitting in a three-set win on Saturday. He tallied all five of his aces in set 3 during a 7-0 scoring run. He added two digs and three blocks.
OTHERS NOMINATED: Daniel Wetter (CSUN); Ethan Siegfried (Long Beach State); Kyle McCauley (UC San Diego); Ryan Wilcox (UC Santa Barbara)
SIMON ANDERSEN, LONG BEACH STATE
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior • Middle Blocker • Middlefart, Denmark
• For the second time this season, Long Beach State senior
Simon Andersen received Big West Men’s Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week accolades after a career-best effort at the net.
• The 6-8 middle blocker totaled a career-high 13 stuffs at CSUN in the opener of a two-match series. He added two more blocks in Saturday’s three-set win to finish the week with 1.88 blocks per set.
• Andersen now ranks No. 1 in the Big West and No. 2 in the nation with a 1.45 blocks per set average.
• The native of Denmark also contributed offensively in the series split with 13 kills on .400 (13-3-25) hitting. He also chipped in two aces and four digs for the week.
OTHERS NOMINATED: Johnny Anselmo (CSUN); Gage Worsley (Hawai‘i)
FRANCESCO SANI, UC IRVINE
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Outside Hitter • Bethesda, Md • Walter Johnson HS
• Earning his second Big West Men’s Volleyball Freshman of the Week honor this season is UC Irvine outside hitter Francesco Sani, who nearly helped his team to an upset of No. 1 Hawai‘i.
• Sani averaged 2.63 kills and hit .289 in two matches against UH. His 12 kills in a five-set loss was one shy of his career-high. He hit .333 in the opener with three digs.
• In Saturday’s rematch, Sani hit .467 with nine kills and just two errors in 15 attempts. He added an ace, a block and a dig.
OTHERS NOMINATED: Kyle Merchen (CSUN); Simon Torwie (Long Beach State); Donovan Todorov (UC Santa Barbara)