2023 Big West Men's Volleyball Schedule | Standings | Stats | Week 1 Notes (.pdf)
What 2 Watch 4
The 2023 season for The Big West programs begins this Thursday, Jan. 5, with the first three matches of the annual Asics Invitational hosted by UC Santa Barbara inside its Robertson Gymnasium. The tournament opens with the Gauchos and No. 10 USC at 3 p.m. on ESPN+, followed by CSUN and No. 2 UCLA at 5:30 p.m., and UC San Diego against Lincoln Memorial as the 8 p.m. capper. UCSB, the Matadors and Tritons each play the Trojans, Bruins and LMU over the three-day event.
UC Irvine gets things going on Friday with the first of two neutral-site affairs on the campus of BYU in Provo, Utah, as the Anteaters take on No. 14 Lewis before facing McKendree on Saturday, both at 3 p.m. PT.
Two-time defending national champion and preseason Big West favorite Hawai’i is idle until a home pair with fellow 2022 National Collegiate Championship participant Ball State next Thursday and Friday, Jan. 12-13. Long Beach State will be the league’s final team to contest a 2023 opener, doing so versus King on Jan. 13 inside its Walter Pyramid.
Check listings to see which matches will air on ESPN+
Poll Position
The AVCA preseason national poll was unveiled on Tuesday, with all six Big West squads reflected. Hawai’i is the near-unanimous preseason No. 1, with 21 of 22 first-place votes. Long Beach State is at No. 3, UC Santa Barbara at No. 7 and UC Irvine at No. 8. CSUN and UC San Diego are among five programs receiving votes outside of the top 15.
Preseason Prognostications
Two-time reigning national champion Hawai’i is the unanimous preseason favorite, having 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) rounded out the listing.
Seven names familiar to fans of the college game were named to the first-ever Big West Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Team. The Hawai’i trio of junior Greek pin hitters Spyros Chakas and Dimitrios Mouchlias and senior setter Jakob Thelle were joined by opposite Hilir Henno and outside hitter Francesco Sani of UC Irvine. The final two spots went to fourth-year junior Long Beach State libero Mason Briggs and veteran UC Santa Barbara outside hitter Ryan Wilcox.
Returning Talent
Six of the seven members of The Big West’s inaugural preseason coaches’ team were All-Big West First Team performers a year ago, with just Mouchlias garnering an honorable mention. Briggs is the group’s lone two-time All-American, with a second-team selection in 2020 prior to last season’s first-team effort. Thelle, the reigning Big West Player of the Year, accompanied Briggs as a 2022 first-team All-American. Chakas, Long Beach State hitter Clarke Godbold and Hawai’i middle Guilherme Voss each earned spots on the second team, while Henno, Mouchlias, Sani, Wilcox, LBSU’s Aidan Knipe and Spencer Olivier, and UCSB middle Donovan Todorov, all picked up honorable mentions. Godbold, Todorov, Voss and CSUN’s Kyle Hobus are also all back from the 2022 All-Big West First Team. Briggs, Godbold, Hobus and Wilcox are former Big West Freshman of the Year selections.
Coaches’ Corner
The Big West men’s volleyball ranks will feature four former Big West Coaches of the Year alongside two new leaders in 2023. Alan Knipe enters a milestone 20th season in charge of Long Beach State, while fellow two-time Big West Coach of the Year and three-time AVCA National Coach of the Year Rick McLaughlin embarks on a 15th campaign at UC Santa Barbara. Charlie Wade of Hawai’i and David Kniffin of UC Irvine shared the league’s top coaching honor a year ago.
Matador alum Theo Edwards was promoted from associate head coach (since 2019) on Dec. 9, three days after Jeff Campbell announced his retirement after 25 seasons at CSUN. Brad Rostratter likewise has taken over for a coach who had been at the helm of an alma mater for a long time, as UC San Diego parted ways with Kevin Ring in July following 17 years. Rostratter directed Vanguard University the past three years.
2022 Season Rewind - Hawai’i Repeats as National Champion
Hawai’i and Long Beach State met in a pair of thrillers with titles on the line during the 2022 postseason, in the final of both the OUTRIGGER Big West Championship presented by the Hawaiian Islands in Honolulu, Hawai’i, and the National Collegiate Championship in Los Angeles, with the Rainbow Warriors winning twice in straight sets after getting swept (both 3-1) by the Beach during the regular-season series at the Walter Pyramid in early April.
UH and top-seeded LBSU each came from behind to survive five-set nail-biters in the national semifinals, against host UCLA and No. 2 seed Ball State, respectively, to set up that fourth and final clash for the big trophy in front of 5,784 spectators inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Setter Jakob Thelle was the Most Valuable Player of The Big West Championship, with Spyros Chakas earning Most Outstanding Player distinction for the NC Championship.
Five for Five?
The Big West has dominated the collegiate men’s volleyball landscape since the league began its sponsorship of the sport ahead of the 2018 campaign, laying claim to all four national titles. Long Beach State went back to back that year and the next, first rallying past host UCLA, 3-2, and then Hawai’i, 3-1 in 2019 at its own Walter Pyramid. After the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 installment, Hawai’i has now taken the last two crowns, both in straight sets, over BYU in Columbus, Ohio, in 2021, followed by a rematch with the Beach at UCLA last May.
Big West Championship History
The 2023 OUTRIGGER Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by the Hawaiian Islands, will come to the Bren Events Center on the campus of host UC Irvine for the first time, April 20-22. The 2020 edition was scheduled to be contested there before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the back end of that season. Hawai’i is the reigning and record two-time champion of the three-day tournament that features all six league members, having defeated Long Beach State in both 2019 and 2022 at home in five and three sets, respectively. The Beach took the inaugural title in 2018, also at home, 3-0 over UH. UC Santa Barbara was the 2021 champion, 3-1 against UC San Diego on O’ahu.
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