LEXINGTON, Ky. – After yet another stellar year on courts across the league, The Big West represents over a third of the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) 34th National Collegiate Men's Volleyball All-America Team, unveiled on Monday.
The list of 24 first- and second-team players includes representatives from 11 schools across the country, including four Big West member-institutions. League champion Long Beach State and GCU lead the way with three players apiece on the first team, and four total All-Americans. UC Irvine is right behind with three total players on the top two teams.
First team libero Mason Briggs of Long Beach State becomes a four-time All-American, the first to do so while playing an entire career in The Big West. After earning second team status in 2020, the senior from Valencia, Calif., has been named to the first team for three consecutive seasons. Briggs is joined by teammates Sotiris Siapanis and Simon Torwie on the first team, both second-team selections last season. Redshirt senior setter Aidan Knipe lands on the second team, up from the honorable mention listings in 2023.
UC Irvine outside hitter Hilir Henno is back for consecutive first team selections. Henno is the only Anteater to dot the first team listings since men’s volleyball became a conference-sponsored sport in 2018, and has helped propel the squad to their first appearance in the national collegiate championship since 2018. Graduate students Cole Power and Brett Sheward earned a place on the second team. This is the first top tier honor for Sheward, a 2023 honorable mention selection while at Hawai’i.
Also earning a place on the second team are CSUN outside hitter Kyle Hobus and Guilherme Voss of Hawai’i. Voss earns a third career nod after the 2024 season was cut short due to injury.
Along with the nine first- and second-team selections, The Big West placed nine on the honorable mention lists, with at least one honoree from each of the six programs in the powerhouse Big West earning distinction.
The awards selections were made by the AVCA NCAA Division I-II Men’s All-America Committee, with veteran Big West head coaches Alan Knipe of Long Beach State and UC Irvine’s David Kniffin on the committee, of which Knipe serves as chairperson.
Top-ranked and second-seeded Long Beach State (25-2) meets No. 7 seed Belmont Abbey (21-4) in the quarterfinals of the 2024 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship inside Walter Pyramid on Tuesday, April 30 at 5 p.m. PT. The Beach are The Big West’s automatic qualifiers after claiming both the regular-season and Championship title in 2024. Earning the at-large entry into the field, fourth-seeded UC Irvine (19-10) take on No. 5 Penn State (23-6) at 1:30 p.m. in the quarterfinal round on the top half of the bracket.
The Big West has claimed four of the last five national collegiate titles with Hawai’i hoisting the last two trophies in 2021 and ’22 and Long Beach State earning the championship in both 2018 and ’19. In both 2019 and ’22, the championship finale featured both the Rainbow Warriors and the Beach in an All-Big West showdown for the title.
AVCA First-Team All-American
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Arta, Balearic Islands, Spain
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AVCA Second-Team All-American
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AVCA Honorable Mention All-America
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