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What 2 Watch 4
Four Big West men’s volleyball teams are set to begin their 2024 campaigns this week on courts around the league.
First up, defending Big West champion Hawai’i is at home at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center on O’ahu hosts Loyola Chicago on Jan. 3 and 4. The Rainbow Warriors play 15 of their 18 non-conference contests on their home court. Notably, UH will play UC Irvine in an out of league game to round out the OUTRIGGER Volleyball Invitational on March 10 before traveling to preseason favorite Long Beach State to start Big West action.
UC Santa Barbara plays host at the annual Asics Invitational Jan. 4-6 with a six-team field taking the court at Rob Gym. The Gauchos are joined by league foes CSUN and UC San Diego as well as George Mason, NJIT and Grand Canyon in the nine-game event.
Still idle through the first weekend of the regular season, UC Irvine opens play at home next Tuesday, Jan. 9 as the Anteaters begin the season competing on Court 21 at Crawford Hall before moving to the Bren for home league contests.
The final Big West side to step on the floor is the preseason favorites. Long Beach State opens the 2024 schedule at home against LIU on Jan. 12.
Various home and road contests are set to air on ESPN+ throughout the regular season. Check listings for more information and a complete game schedule.
2024 Preseason Prognostications
A new name is atop the Big West Men’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll in 2024, with the league’s leaders tabbing Long Beach State as the favorite to win the title.
The Beach earned top billing with three first-place votes and 23 total points in the voting, narrowly edging defending Big West champion and national runners-up Hawai’i. The Rainbow Warriors tallied 21 points and picked up two first-place votes. The tightly bunched trio at the top is rounded out by UC Irvine who received the final first-place nod and compiled 19 points in the vote by the league’s six head coaches.
LBSU is coming off a 21-5 season where the Beach went 9-1 in league play while advancing to the national semifinals, falling to eventual champion UCLA. Student-athletes from the Beach took three of the seven slots on the Preseason Coaches’ Team, encompassing all facets of the game, headlined by three-time AVCA All-American libero Mason Briggs. The fifth-year senior from Valencia, Calif., led the league and was fifth in the nation in digs per set in 2023 at a 2.38 average, and picked up All-Tournament Team honors at the National Collegiate Championship.
Briggs is joined on the preseason team by redshirt senior setter Aidan Knipe who is coming off a 2023 campaign with a 9.68 assists per set average. In three years on the court, Knipe has dished out 2,205 assists. The third LBSU player to dot the list is outside hitter Sotiris Siapanis, set to enter a junior campaign for the Beach. Hailing from Limassol, Cyprus, Siapanis averaged 3.21 kills, 1.64 digs and 0.413 aces per set in a first year in The Big West after playing a freshman campaign at Ohio State.
Back-to-back Big West champions Hawai’i came in second in the poll voting, just two points behind LBSU. The ‘Bows have been in the National Collegiate Championship finale four consecutive years, dating back to 2019’s runner-up finish to LBSU.
Hawai’i placed two athletes on the preseason team in All-Americans Guilherme Voss and Spyros Chakas. Voss, a senior middle blocker from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, earned first team All-American status in 2023, averaging 1.149 blocks and 1.69 kills per set to anchor the UH first line of defense. Hailing from Nea Smyrni, Greece, Chakas posted a 4.09 points per set average while hitting .314 in 2023. The outside/opposite hitter has twice been named to the AVCA All-America second team.
UC Irvine is slotted two points behind UH, making the top three teams in the 2024 polling separated by four total points. The Anteaters (18-11, 6-4 BW) closed the 2023 campaign ranked fifth in the AVCA Division I-II Coaches’ Poll after advancing to The Big West Championship final. UCI serving sensation Hilir Henno was tapped to the preseason team after a stellar sophomore season. Henno, a native of Pornichet, France, led the country in aces per set with a 0.879 average in 2023, dropping in 87 serves for the point. Henno also added 3.46 kills and 1.53 digs per set for the ‘Eaters while picking up first team All-America honors.
The trio of UC Santa Barbara (11 points), CSUN (8) and UC San Diego (8) round out the polling entering 2024. CSUN mainstay Kyle Hobus claimed the final nod to the preseason team. Entering a fifth year on the court for the Matadors, Hobus compiled averages of 3.59 kills and 4.14 points per set in 2023 while earning a second-straight appearance on the All-Big West First Team.
League Superiority
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 four of five national titles, with at least one national finalist in each season. Long Beach State went back-to-back in 2018 and ’19, first rallying past host UCLA, 3-2, and then Hawai’i, 3-1, at its own Walter Pyramid. After the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 installment, Hawai’i claimed the crown in 2021 and ’22, both in straight sets, over BYU in Columbus, Ohio, followed by a rematch with the Beach at UCLA in ’22. In 2023’s installment, UH was vying for a three-peat, but fell just short with UCLA earning the title at George Mason in Fairfax, Va., defeating The Big West champions in four in the finale.
2023 Postseason Rewind
Hawai’i downed fifth-ranked host UC Irvine in four sets in the final of the 2023 OUTRIGGER Big West Championship, presented by The Hawaiian Islands, on Saturday, April 22, for a record third conference tournament title as the first repeat victor. Dimitrios Mouchlias put down 17 kills with Chaz Galloway adding 13 to go along with eight digs. Both players had six block assists and an ace. Setter Jakob Thelle, The Big West Championship Most Valuable Player for the second straight year, finished with 47 assists, five blocks and a pair of kills while directing the UH offense to a team hitting percentage of .330. Hilir Henno (17 kills) and Francesco Sani (13) matched the output of Mouchlias and Galloway.
Friday’s semifinals had begun with a UH sweep over UC Santa Barbara. Thelle put together a first double-double for 2023 of 26 assists and a match-high 12 digs. Mouchlias provided 13 kills. UCI advanced via straight-set upset of Long Beach State behind Henno’s 22 kills, seven digs and two aces. On the championship's opening night, UCSB outlasted UC San Diego in a five-set thriller, with Nick Amoruso (20 kills) and Ryan Ka (21) pacing their respective teams offensively. The Anteaters breezed by CSUN with 12 kills and four aces from Henno.
Both the Beach and the Rainbow Warriors earned a spot in the 2023 National Collegiate Championship, with UH earning the No. 2 seed in the bracket. LBSU advanced past Grand Canyon before succumbing to No. 1 seed UCLA in the semifinals. Hawai’i advanced past third-seeded Penn State in the other semifinal in an attempt for a ‘Bows three-peat, but they were thwarted by the Bruins, 3-1.
Jakob Thelle, AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Player of the Year, recorded 50 assists with Dimitrios Mouchlias providing a team-high 18 kills in collegiate farewells. Cole Hogland added a match-best seven total blocks (one solo) with Brett Sheward topping the digs tally with 16.
Along with Thelle’s national honor, a total of 11 Big West standouts were named to AVCA All-America teams, and UH assistant coach Milan Zarkovic earned AVCA Assistant Coach of the Year for the second time, also winning the award in 2020.
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