Spyros Chakas, Hawai'i  Men's Volleyball Offensive Player of the Week  Junior • Outside Hitter • Nea Smyrni, Greece

• Spyros Chakas led the No. 1 Hawai’i offense to a pair of home wins against Concordia-Irvine to claim Big West Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. This marks the third career honor for Chakas, who also picked up a freshman distinction in 2021.

• The outside hitter averaged 4.29 kills, 1.86 digs, and 0.86 blocks per set in a pair of wins over Concordia-Irvine, hitting .441 in the series with only 4 attack errors in 59 attempts.

• Chakas opened the weekend with 16 kills on .424 hitting with 2 aces, six digs, three blocks and a pair of aces in Thursday’s four-setter.

• The native of Nea Smyrni, Greece, followed it up in the rematch with 14 kills while swinging at a .462 clip with seven digs, three blocks and an ace in the Friday sweep.

• Chakas currently leads The Big West and is fifth in the nation in kills per set (4.29) with a points-per-set mark of 4.80, good for 10th in NCAA Division I.

Also Nominated: Kyle Hobus (CSUN); Ryan Ka (UC San Diego); Aidan Knipe (Long Beach State)

Simon Torwie, Long Beach State  Men's Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week  Junior • Middle Blocker • Artà, Balearic Islands, Spain

• Simon Torwie led No. 4 Long Beach State with a pair of huge blocking games to pick up Big West Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, and third in a career.

• The junior averaged 2.50 blocks per set in a pair of sweeps over NJIT, limiting the visitors to a .093 attack percentage.

• Friday night, Torwie matched a career-high with eight total blocks as the Highlanders hit just .193. The native of Arta, Balearic Islands, Spain, was also effective on the attack, adding seven kills to go along with two digs in the match.

• Saturday, the middle blocker added seven more blocks as NJIT was negative on the attack (-.014) for the night. Torwie added seven more kills on .600 hitting in the tidy three-set win.

• Torwie leads The Big West – and the nation in blocks per set with a 1.735 average.

Also Nominated: `Eleu Choy (Hawai’i); Ryan Ka (UC San Diego)

Josh Schellinger, UC San Diego  Men's Volleyball Freshman of the Week  Redshirt Freshman • Outside Hitter • Bloomington, Ill.

• UC San Diego’s Josh Schellinger earned a second career Big West Freshman of the Week nod after helping the Tritons to a a sweep of Westcliff in their only game of the week. 

• Schellinger powered down 11 kills on the night, adding three digs, two aces and a block on Valentine’s Day.  

• The outside hitter from Bloomington, Ill., has now finished with double-digit kill tallies in six of the last seven matches for UC San Diego, averaging 2.80 kills per set. 

• Schellinger is currently hitting .379 on the season, a mark that ranks fifth in The Big West overall and tops for a first-year player, and 20th in NCAA Division I.  

Also Nominated: Connor Bloom (Long Beach State)
 

2023 Big West Men's Volleyball Weekly Winners