2022 All-Big West Team (.pdf)
HONOLULU - On the eve of the first serve of the 2022 OUTRIGGER Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by The Hawaiian Islands, The Big West has announced its men’s volleyball first team and All-Freshman Team for the 2022 campaign.
Of the 14 members of the All-Big West First Team, three each hail from regular-season champion Long Beach State and runner-up Hawai’i, the top two seeds at this week’s Championship. The Beach trio is made up of libero Mason Briggs and outside hitters Clarke Godbold and Alex Nikolov, all underclassmen. The three Rainbow Warriors are pin hitter Spyros Chakas, setter Jakob Thelle and middle blocker Guilherme Voss.
The remaining four sides each have a pair of representatives. UC Santa Barbara’s honorees are middle Donovan Todorov and outside hitter Ryan Wilcox. UC San Diego’s duo of outside hitter Kyle McCauley and libero Matt Palma are the only two listed seniors on the young squad, joined by pin hitters Hilir Henno and Francesco Sani of UC Irvine, and outside hitter Kyle Hobus and middle blocker Daniel Wetter of CSUN.
McCauley and Wetter are the only two repeat All-Big West first teamers, as 11 of the 14 chosen a year ago were veterans who moved on. They are both in fact three-timers going back to 2020, with McCauley three-for-three since his move to La Jolla from Orange Coast College.
Briggs garnered honorable mentions the past two seasons, as did Wilcox in 2019 and 2021, Thelle in 2021, and Hobus in 2020. Godbold was the 2021 Big West Freshman of the Year, with Briggs and Hobus sharing that award in 2020, and Wilcox voted the top rookie in 2019. Like those four, Chakas (2021), Sani (2021), Voss (2020) and Wetter (2019) graduated from the All-Freshman Team.
Six student-athletes were on at least two of the six head coach ballots and thus picked up All-Big West honorable mentions for their 2022 efforts. On that list is Long Beach State’s Spencer Olivier, who was the third returning All-Big West First Team choice from 2021. Also included are UC San Diego seniors Shane Benetz and Logan Clark, UC Santa Barbara’s Dayne Chalmers and setter Patrick Paragas, and Dimitrios Mouchlias of Hawai’i. Benetz (2021) and Olivier (2020) each have one prior honorable mention, while Clark was a freshman awardee in 2019.
The seven-member Big West All-Freshman Team is headlined by the prohibitive favorite for Big West Freshman of the Year in the Beach’s Nikolov. The native of Sofia, Bulgaria, was a record eight-time Big West Freshman of the Week, and leads his third-ranked team in kills and aces.
Joining Nikolov are UC Irvine’s Henno, Olumide Allen and Donovan Constable of CSUN, Geste Bianchi and Max Gordon of UC Santa Barbara, and Matthew Lim of UC San Diego. Henno picked up five Freshman of the Week nods, including the last one Monday, with one apiece for Constable and Lim to account for all 15 awards this season.
Nikolov heads into the postseason first nationally in aces per set (0.62), second in points per set (5.38) and third in kills per set (4.43). Voss is third in blocks per set (1.31), and Thelle fourth in aces per set (0.59).
The 27 Big West volleyball standouts recognized Wednesday are products of six countries and three states.
The
2022 OUTRIGGER Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by The Hawaiian Islands and hosted by the University of Hawai’i inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, begins on Thursday, April 21, with a pair of first-round clashes as the Beach and Rainbow Warriors receive byes straight through to Friday’s semifinals. The title match is slated for a 7:30 p.m. HT/10:30 p.m. PT start on Saturday, April 23. All five matches will air live on ESPN+ on the mainland, and locally on television in Hawai’i via Spectrum Sports.
The Big West Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Freshman of the Year will be announced separately following the conclusion of Big West Championship action, on Tuesday, April 26.
| 2022 All-Big West First Team
|
| Student-Athlete |
Year |
Position |
Institution |
Hometown |
| Mason Briggs *^ |
So. |
L |
Long Beach State |
Valencia, Calif. |
| Spyros Chakas |
So. |
OH |
Hawai’i |
Nea Smyrni, Greece |
| Clarke Godbold |
So. |
OH |
Long Beach State |
San Pedro, Calif. |
| Hilir Henno |
Fr. |
OH |
UC Irvine |
Pornichet, France |
| Kyle Hobus ^ |
R-So. |
OH |
CSUN |
San Pedro, Calif. |
| Kyle McCauley %# |
Sr. |
OH |
UC San Diego |
Huntington Beach, Calif. |
| Alex Nikolov |
Fr. |
OH |
Long Beach State |
Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Matt Palma |
Sr. |
L |
UC San Diego |
Costa Mesa, Calif. |
| Francesco Sani |
So. |
OH |
UC Irvine |
Bethesda, Md. |
| Jakob Thelle * |
Jr. |
S |
Hawai’i |
Tonsberg, Norway |
| Donovan Todorov |
So. |
MB |
UC Santa Barbara |
San Diego, Calif. |
| Guilherme Voss |
So. |
MB |
Hawai’i |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Daniel Wetter %# |
R-Jr. |
MB |
CSUN |
Camarillo, Calif. |
| Ryan Wilcox *~ |
Jr. |
OH |
UC Santa Barbara |
Honolulu, Hawai’i |
| Honorable Mention: Shane Benetz * (UC San Diego), Dayne Chalmers (UC Santa Barbara), Logan Clark (UC San Diego), Dimitrios Mouchlias (Hawai’i), Spencer Olivier %^ (Long Beach State), Patrick Paragas (UC Santa Barbara) |
% - 2021 All-Big West; * - 2021 Honorable Mention; # - 2020 All Big West; ^ - 2020 Honorable Mention; ~ - 2019 Honorable Mention
| 2022 Big West All-Freshman Team
|
| Student-Athlete |
Position |
Institution |
Hometown |
| Olumide Allen |
MB |
CSUN |
San Diego, Calif. |
| Geste Bianchi |
OPP |
UC Santa Barbara |
Laguna Beach, Calif. |
| Donovan Constable |
S |
CSUN |
Clovis, Calif. |
| Max Gordon |
L/OH |
UC Santa Barbara |
Manhattan Beach, Calif. |
| Hilir Henno |
OH |
UC Irvine |
Pornichet, France |
| Matthew Lim |
OH |
UC San Diego |
San Diego, Calif. |
| Alex Nikolov |
OH |
Long Beach State |
Sofia, Bulgaria |