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What 2 Watch 4
Seven games are on slate across The Big West, with each team taking to the court at least once.
The first conference match of the season highlights the schedule with UC San Diego playing host to UC Santa Barbara on Friday at 7 p.m., on ESPN+.
The series history heavily favors the Gauchos, winners of 24 of the last 25 matches in the series, dating back more than a decade. However, the Tritons were able to secure a 3-2 victory in the last date at LionTree Arena on April 7, 2023, on UCSD’s senior night. The two met up two weeks later in the 2023 Big West Championship in Irvine, Calif., as fourth-seeded UCSB ousted the No. 5 seed UCSD from the bracket.
Also dotting the calendar is a pair of Big West sides set to host No. 15 Lewis, with top-ranked Long Beach State welcoming the Flyers on Friday at 7 p.m., before No. 16 CSUN draws hosting duties on Saturday at 6 p.m. Both matches are slated for ESPN+ broadcast.
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.
Last Week, Today
- The Big West went 8-0 last week, with five sweeps and a pair of wins over ranked foes. Teams took victories in three home games, two neutral site contests and three road matchups.
- UC Irvine highlighted the successful week by winning twice at then-No. 5 Stanford, upending the Cardinal 3-1 in both matches on The Farm. UCI has not beaten Stanford in four straight meetings. AVCA National Collegiate and Big West Offensive Player of the Week Hilir Henno led the way for the Anteaters, averaging an impressive 6.38 kills, 1.63 digs, 1.25 blocks and 7.50 points per set. On Friday, Henno hit .422 with 23 kills and three aces. In the second contest, Henno was one shy of a career-high with 28 kills, which stands second in the country in kills in a four-set match this year. Libero Cole Power posted a pair of double-digit dig performances to claim Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors. Power’s performance was highlighted by a season-high 13 dig outing on Saturday.
- Long Beach State hosted a Big West/SIAC Crossover and make quick work of Central and State Edward Waters with sweeps for the top team in the country. Redshirt senior middle blocker Aidan Grosz make a first career start against Central State led LBSU with five blocks as the Marauders hit -0.113. Grosz also powered down six kills hitting 1.000 in the tidy win. True freshman Sebastiano Sani made a second career start against Edward Waters, leading the Beach with 10 kills, three aces and two blocks in the match.
- Also competing at Walter Pyramid in the Crossover event, UC San Diego also swept through Central State and Edward Waters. Sebastian Lara totaled 11 kills, five assists and four digs and hit .667 (11-1-15) on the weekend. Middle blocker Leo Wiemelt added 12 kills, five blocks and two aces and claimed Big West Freshman of the Week for the efforts.
- With just one match on the week, CSUN swept through the visiting team from Hope International last Wednesday. Junior Lorenzo Bertozzi made the most of a first start of the season, connecting for a career-high 14 kills while hitting .462 on 26 swings. The Matadadors hit .453 as a team (41-7-75) behind 32 assists from setter Donovan Constable.
- UC Santa Barbara secured a 3-1 road victory at Cal Lutheran with redshirt sophomore Ben Coordt finishing with 15 kills on .542 hitting for the Gauchos. Despite a slow start after dropping the first frame, UCSB worked through the early struggles to take down the Kingsmen.
Poll Position
All six Big West squads continue to dots the listings in the AVCA/NVA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Poll for Feb 12, with three Big West teams in the top five. Long Beach State holds the top line for the fourth straight week. Defending Big West champion Hawai’i sits in third with 2023 Championship runners-up UC Irvine up two spots to fifth. CSUN (16th), UC Santa Barbara (18th), and UC San Diego (t-20th) round out the list.
Statistical Superlatives
Numerous teams and players across The Big West are making their mark in the national statistics. Hawai’i takes the cake in team hitting percentage at .409 and aces per set with 2.61. Long Beach State is leading the country in blocks per set averaging 3.580 and holding opponents to just 0.126 hitting, tops in national collegiate volleyball.
Individually, Geste Bianchi of UC Santa Barbara leads the NCAA in both attacks (10.16) and kills (4.47) and per set. UC Irvine’s Hilir Henno accumulates a category-leading 5.36 points per set. Long Beach State’s Lazar Bouchkov paces the country in blocks with an 1.686 per set average.
Single-Game Superiority
Players in The Big West rate at the top of the national listings with impressive individual performances in multiple categories:
Category - Player - Statistic
Kills (3-set match) - Spyros Chakas, Hawai’i - 23, vs. Stanford (Feb. 9)
Kills (4-set match) - Geste Bianchi, UC Santa Barbara - 30, vs. George Mason (Jan. 5)
Aces (4-set match) - Hilir Henno, UC Irvine - 9, vs. Princeton (Jan. 13)
Blocks (3-set match) - Lazar Bouchkov, Long Beach State - 10.0, vs. Pepperdine (Jan. 26)
Blocks (4-set match) - Lazar Bouchkov, Long Beach State - 11.0, vs. NJIT (Jan. 20)
Blocks (5-set match) - Peter Selcho, UC San Diego - 12.0, vs. NJIT (Jan. 6)
Team Chart Toppers
Some Big West season-highs to note include Hawai’i’s impressive .594 hitting percentage (44-3-69) in a sweep of No. 5 Stanford on Feb. 9 and a .586 team attack percentage in a sweep of Tusculum on Feb. 2. UH also leads with a 66-assist performance in a five-setter against Loyola Chicago on Jan. 5, and UC Irvine’s 51 digs in a 3-1 win at Stanford on Feb. 17 tops the category. Hawai’i compiled a league-best 16 aces in a match on Feb. 4 and UC San Diego sits atop the team blocking, with 21.0 in a five-setter against NJIT on Jan. 6. The Tritons’ blocking figure tops the nation in blocks in a five-set match. Long Beach State holds the top line in blocks in three (15.5) and four (17.5).
Career Men
Big West players pave the way on the NCAA’s active career listings in four categories. Guilherme Voss of Hawai’i has blocked a career chart-topping 224 attempts for the Rainbow Warriors with a career-leading .70 blocks per set. UC Irvine’s Hilir Henno serves up a nation-leading .669 career aces per set while Kevin Kauling, UH graduate transfer who played four years at Lewis, has recorded two career triple-doubles to top the listings.
Eyes on Us
The top eight attended games in the country in the 2024 season have come at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, topped by 9,226 fans as the Rainbow Warriors swept Stanford on Feb. 9. Ninth on the national listings is Long Beach State’s crowd of 4,304 as the Beach took down UCLA in what was the third largest men’s volleyball crowd in program history at Walter Pyramid.
Another impressive figure was tallied at the Bren on Jan. 31 with 2,644 spectators on hand for the Top 10 battle against No. 5 UCLA on Jan. 31. UC San Diego enjoyed a program record 2,474 fans at LionTree Arena in a deceptively close 3-0 loss to to the second-ranked Bruins on Jan. 26.
Hawai’i (5,967 - 1st), Long Beach State (1,747 - 3rd) and UC San Diego (1,034 - 5th) are three of the six programs nationally to average at least 1,000 fans per match.
All Aces from the Service Line
The Big West has a new record-holding serving sensation. UC Irvine junior Hilir Henno surpassed previous record holder Ryan Wilcox (2019-23) of UC Santa Barbara’s mark of 134. Henno’s record-breaker came in the final frame a sweep of Saint Francis on Jan. 10. The junior from Pornichet, France, now stands at 158 aces - and counting.
On January 13, two Big West Frenchmen came up clutch from the service line, tying the league’s single-match record for aces. Henno recorded a second-career nine-ace match in the win over Princeton, which also matches the UCI program record. Hawai’i Freshman Louis Sakanoko reached the nine-ace mark in a sweep against Emmanuel, which also ties the Rainbow Warriors’ program record. The Paris, France, native was making a first career start in the match.
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.
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