IRVINE, Calif. – The Big West unveiled its three individual award winners following the conclusion of The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2024 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, headlined by Player of the Year Hilir Henno of UC Irvine.
Henno, a junior from Pornichet, France, is the first Anteater to claim a Big West Player of the Year award in the seven years of Big West sport sponsorship. Henno enters the national postseason averaging an impressive 5.51 points per set to top the country. The outside hitter is also the Big West pacesetter in hitting percentage (.382) and aces per set (.431), and rates second in The Big West and national collegiate volleyball in kills per set (4.77).
Last week at the Big West Championship, Henno put on a clinic in the semifinal round when the second-seeded Anteaters defeated hosts and No. 3 seed Hawai’i in a three-set sweep. Henno recorded 24 kills on .511 hitting (24-1-45) in the match and averaged 5.57 kills per set through seven sets for the Championship runners-up.
Henno is the current Big West career aces leader, with 179 and counting, through three years on the court. The .605 career aces average rates second in national collegiate volleyball. Henno claimed four Big West Offensive Player of the Week awards in 2024, and was named AVCA National Player of the Week on Feb. 19.
Freshman of the Year honors belong to first-year setter for Hawai’i, Tread Rosenthal. The product of Manhattan Beach, Calif., is the first UH player to earn the first-year award.
Rosenthal was integral in the success of the fifth-ranked ’Bows throughout the year, contributing in all facets of the game. The 6-for-8 setter capped the debut season averaging 10.08 assists, 1.5 digs, .772 blocks and .416 aces per set. Rosenthal is a six-time Big West Freshman of the Week honoree.
Alan Knipe claimed Big West Coach of the Year after guiding the Beach to both the regular- and postseason crowns.
This is Knipe’s third league coaching honor, earning back-to-back awards in 2018 and ’19, when LBSU went on to win the National Collegiate Championship in both seasons. In a 21st year with the Beach, Knipe’s squad has currently compiled a 25-2 overall record while posting a 9-1 mark in Big West play. LBSU earned the second seed in the 2024 National Collegiate Volleyball Championship bracket, set to start next week from Walter Pyramid, the home of LBSU men’s volleyball.
The Beach are making a 14th appearance in the national postseason, dating back to 1970. This will be the ninth showing under the guidance of Knipe, a 1992 alumnus of LBSU.
Henno’s season continues in the quarterfinals of the National Collegiate Championship on Tuesday, April 30, when the fourth-ranked and fourth-seeded Anteaters face off with No. 5 seed Penn State at 1:30 p.m. Knipe’s Long Beach State squad tussles with seventh-seeded first-time participant Belmont Abbey at 5 p.m., with the Beach holding the AVCA’s top ranking and the No. 2 seed in the bracket.