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IRVINE, Calif. - Two-time reigning national champion Hawai’i is the unanimous preseason favorite while landing three standout student-athletes on the league’s inaugural preseason team, as announced by The Big West on Wednesday.
In a first-of-its-kind event, the 2023 Big West Men’s Volleyball Preview Show, presented by OUTRIGGER Resorts is set to premiere
on ESPN+ today at noon PT/10 a.m. HT. Rob Espero provides expert insight and analysis and discusses the upcoming season across the powerhouse Big West with each of the league’s six head coaches in the nationally broadcast preview show.
Hawai’i received all five first-place votes from opposing head coaches to total 25 points and finish ahead of 2022 Big West regular-season champion and conference tournament and national runner-up Long Beach State with 19 points. UC Irvine picked up the remaining first-place nod and 17 points to place third. UC Santa Barbara (13 points), CSUN (10) and UC San Diego (six) round out the listing.
Seven names familiar to fans of the college game have been named to the first-ever Big West Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Team, representing four programs, four countries and three states. The Hawai’i trio of junior Greek pin hitters Spyros Chakas (Nea Smyrni, Greece) and Dimitrios Mouchlias (Soufli, Greece) and senior setter Jakob Thelle (Tonsberg, Norway), are joined by opposite Hilir Henno (Pornichet, France) and outside hitter Francesco Sani (Bethesda, Md.) of UC Irvine. The final two spots went to fourth-year junior Long Beach State libero and two-time All-American Mason Briggs (Valencia), and veteran UC Santa Barbara outside hitter Ryan Wilcox (Honolulu, Hawai’i).
Thelle was The Big West Player of the Year a season ago while leading the Rainbow Warriors to a repeat national championship. Fellow 2022 first-team All-American Briggs was the 2020 Big West Co-Freshman of the Year, while Wilcox was the 2019 Big West Freshman of the Year.
Six of the seven players were 2022 All-Big West First Team selections, with Mouchlias picking up an honorable mention. Alongside Briggs and Thelle, Chakas made the 2022 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-America Second Team, while Henno, Mouchlias, Sani and Wilcox each garnered All-America honorable mentions. Briggs was a second-teamer in 2020 as the group’s lone two-time All-American.
Charlie Wade led Hawai’i to records of 27-5 overall and 7-3 in league play en route to earning a share of the 2022 Big West Coach of the Year distinction. The Rainbow Warriors have several more heavy contributors returning than just Chakas, Mouchlias and Thelle. Among them,
Guilherme Voss is a 6-foot-7 middle blocker from Brazil who was a 2022 second-team All-American, while
Chaz Galloway and Cole Hogland started 21 matches apiece and a fourth junior,
Brett Sheward, appeared in all 32 contests as UH’s primary libero. Hawai’i has 19 of its 28 regular-season dates inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, where it went a perfect 18-0 as the national attendance leader last year.
Long Beach State went 21-6 overall, 8-2 in The Big West and 15-1 at the Walter Pyramid in 2022, splitting four meetings with UH as it took a pair of 3-1 decisions at home in April during the regular season before falling in straight sets in the championship matches of both the conference and national tourneys. Though Briggs, 2022 AVCA All-America second-teamer
Clarke Godbold, sixth-year outside hitter
Spencer Olivier and starting setter
Aidan Knipe are among those back, two-time Big West Coach of the Year Alan Knipe will have to find a replacement for 2022 AVCA National Player of the Year, AVCA Newcomer of the Year and Big West Freshman of the Year Alex Nikolov, who opted to turn professional following a spectacular debut season of college volleyball. LBSU did bring in redshirt sophomore outside hitter
Sotiris Siapanis, the 2021 MIVA Newcomer of the Year as a freshman at Ohio State who missed the 2022 campaign there due to injury. Knipe heads into a milestone 20th season at the helm of his alma mater.
UC Irvine was 11-16 overall and 3-7 in the conference (fifth) in 2022 under Big West Co-Coach of the Year David Kniffin. Apart from Henno and Sani, the Anteaters will have junior middle blocker
Connor Campbell, redshirt junior outside hitters
Doug Dahm and
Cole Gillis and senior libero
Cole Power to rely on to back up their preseason prognostication. UCI has added promising rookie prospects like 6-foot-10 Australian opposite
William D’Arcy, middle blocker
Maxim Grigoriev (Walnut Creek) and Bulgarian outside hitter
Stefan Vartigov.
Two-time Big West Coach of the Year Rick McLaughlin guided UC Santa Barbara to a third-place league finish in 2022 with marks of 19-9 and 6-4. In addition to Wilcox, the Gauchos bring back All-Big West First Team middle blocker
Donovan Todorov, who earned All-America honorable mention from the AVCA, as well as All-Big West honorable mention outside hitter
Dayne Chalmers and All-Freshman Team picks
Geste Bianchi and
Max Gordon.
CSUN introduced associate head coach Theo Edwards as its new head coach on Dec. 9, three days after long-time mentor and all-time wins leader (330) Jeff Campbell announced his retirement following 25 seasons in charge at his alma mater. The Matadors were 6-16 overall and 1-9 in Big West play in 2022. Fifth-year junior outside hitter
Kyle Hobus made the 2022 All-Big West First Team and was the 2020 Co-Freshman of the Year, but three-time first-teamer Daniel Wetter, who gained All-America honorable mention a season ago, is gone. All-Freshman Team members
Olumide Allen and setter
Donovan Constable are back as well.
Also under new leadership is UC San Diego, which named Brad Rostratter to its top post on Oct. 7 after three seasons in charge at Vanguard University, having parted ways with its own alum and long-time head coach, Kevin Ring, in July following 17 seasons. The Tritons placed fourth in The Big West a year ago with marks of 13-11 and an even 5-5. Though two-time AVCA All-American outside hitter Kyle McCauley was among four Tritons with 2022 Big West postseason honors to graduate, UC San Diego still has the likes of
Ryan Ka and 2022 Big West All-Freshman Team pick
Matthew Lim.
The 2023 season gets under way on Thursday, Jan. 5, with UC Santa Barbara’s annual Asics Invitational, as the Gauchos, CSUN and UC San Diego go up against USC, UCLA and Lincoln Memorial, respectively, to begin the three-day event. UC Irvine contests its first of two neutral-site matches in Provo, Utah, the following day against Lewis. Hawai’i serves it up the next Thursday, Jan. 12, with the first of two at home against Ball State for rematches of their 2022 national semifinal, won by the ‘Bows in five sets. Long Beach State is the final Big West squad to start competition, at home versus King on Friday night, Jan. 13.
The first date of the 10-match, double-round-robin Big West slate is set for Friday, Feb. 24, as CSUN travels south to La Jolla to take on UC San Diego inside LionTree Arena at 7 p.m. PT on ESPN+.
Click here for the upcoming 2023 Big West men's volleyball schedule.
The Big West is four-for-four in producing the national champion ever since the conference began its sponsorship of men’s volleyball for the 2018 campaign, as Long Beach State and Hawai’i have each gone back-to-back around the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The 2023 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship will take place May 4-6 inside host George Mason University’s EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va.
| 2023 Big West Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll |
|
Rank
|
Institution
|
Points
|
|
1.
|
Hawai’i
|
25 (5)
|
|
2.
|
Long Beach State
|
19
|
|
3.
|
UC Irvine
|
17 (1)
|
|
4.
|
UC Santa Barbara
|
13
|
|
5.
|
CSUN
|
10
|
|
6.
|
UC San Diego
|
6
|
First-place votes in parentheses
| 2023 Big West Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Team
|
|
Student-Athlete
|
Year
|
Position
|
Institution
|
Hometown
|
|
Mason Briggs
|
Jr.
|
Libero
|
Long Beach State
|
Valencia, Calif.
|
|
Spyros Chakas
|
Jr.
|
Outside/Opposite
|
Hawai’i
|
Nea Smyrni, Greece
|
|
Hilir Henno
|
So.
|
Outside Hitter
|
UC Irvine
|
Pornichet, France
|
|
Dimitrios Mouchlias
|
Jr.
|
Opposite Hitter
|
Hawai’i
|
Soufli, Greece
|
|
Francesco Sani
|
Jr.
|
Outside Hitter
|
UC Irvine
|
Bethesda, Md.
|
|
Jakob Thelle
|
Sr.
|
Setter
|
Hawai’i
|
Tonsberg, Norway
|
|
Ryan Wilcox
|
Sr.
|
Outside Hitter
|
UC Santa Barbara
|
Honolulu, Hawai’i
|