IRVINE, Calif. — With the 2023 OUTRIGGER Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by The Hawaiian Islands, set for a Thursday night start on the campus of first-time host UC Irvine, The Big West has announced its all-conference and all-freshman teams.

Hawai’i leads the way on the 14-member All-Big West First Team with six of its starters voted on. Fellow regular-season co-champion Long Beach State put four on the squad, which also includes two from UC Irvine and one each from CSUN and UC Santa Barbara.

The Rainbow Warrior contingent is headlined by senior setter Jakob Thelle, the reigning Big West Player of the Year and national leader at 10.76 assists per set. Joining the native of Tonsberg, Norway, are pin hitters Spyros Chakas, Chaz Galloway and Dimitrios Mouchlias, middle blocker Guilherme Voss and libero Brett Sheward, who has also spelled Thelle at setter at times this season.

The Beach quartet is made up of libero Mason Briggs, outside hitters Spencer Olivier and newcomer Sotiris Siapanis, and middle Simon Torwie. Torwie tops all of NCAA Division I-II in blocks per set (1.62), with Briggs fifth in digs per set (2.40).

Anteaters Hilir Henno and Francesco Sani, fifth-year Gaucho outside hitter Ryan Wilcox and CSUN outside hitter Kyle Hobus fill out the rest of the first team. Henno paces the country in aces per set (0.90), having served a single-season school-record 80 aces thus far in 2023. Sani is No. 1 in The Big West in both kills (3.99) and points (4.77) per set. Mouchlias is second in those categories at 3.93 and 4.77, respectively, while leading the league in hitting percentage (.395).

Briggs, Chakas, Henno, Hobus, Sani, Thelle, Voss and Wilcox are repeat first-teamers, after there were only two holdovers between a veteran 2021 squad and 2022. Olivier made a prior appearance on the 2021 All-Big West First Team, with honorable mentions for 2022 and 2020. Briggs (2021, 2020), Galloway (2021), Hobus (2020), Mouchlias (2022), Thelle (2021) and Wilcox (2021, 2019) have all also previously received honorable mentions.

Six student-athletes were on at least two of the six head coach ballots to garner All-Big West honorable mentions for their 2023 performances. In that group is Long Beach State junior opposite Clarke Godbold, a 2022 All-Big West first teamer, alongside Beach teammates Shane Holdaway and setter Aidan Knipe, UC San Diego senior Ryan Ka, first-year UC Irvine setter Joe Karlous, and CSUN’s Griffin Walters.

Of the nine-member Big West All-Freshman Team, four play for UC San Diego in Evan Boyle, Josh Ewert, Jim Garrison and Josh Schellinger. Tritons accounted for six of this year’s 15 Big West Freshman of the Week awards, led by Schellinger’s league-high four. Joining them on the squad are Owen Birg of UC Santa Barbara, Connor Bloom of Long Beach State, Maxim Grigoriev of UC Irvine and Kurt Nusterer of Hawai’i, who combined for seven of the nine remaining weekly rookie honors. CSUN middle Malcolm King rounds out the listing.

Henno (2022), Chakas (2021), Godbold (2021), Sani (2021), Torwie (2021), Briggs (2020), Galloway (2020), Hobus (2020), Sheward (2020), Voss (2020) and Wilcox (2019) are all former All-Freshman Team picks. Godbold, Briggs, Hobus and Wilcox were The Big West Freshman of the Year for those seasons, with Briggs and Hobus sharing the 2020 award.

The 29 Big West volleyball standouts recognized Wednesday are products of seven countries and five states. All seven LBSU starters were chosen either onto the first team or for honorable mention.

The 2023 OUTRIGGER Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by The Hawaiian Islands, begins with a pair of first-round tilts inside the Bren Events Center on Thursday, April 20. The Warriors and Beach nabbed the two byes for the second year in a row, and both are straight through to Friday night’s semifinals. The title match is slated for a first serve of just after 7:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. HT this Saturday, April 22, and will air live on ESPNU. The first four contests can be viewed on ESPN+ on the mainland and through Spectrum Sports in Hawai’i.

The Big West Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Freshman of the Year will be announced separately following the conclusion of The Big West Championship next Tuesday, April 25.