Hawaii volleyball’s Rado Parapunov garners fourth player of the week honor in 5 weeks
STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii’s Rado Parapunov set up for a hit, March 8, during the third set against Ball State, at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. For the fourth time in five weeks, Hawaii junior opposite Rado Parapunov was named the player of the week in Big West men’s volleyball.
For the fourth time in five weeks, Hawaii junior opposite Rado Parapunov was named the player of the week in Big West men’s volleyball.
The 6-foot-9 Bulgarian national averaged 4.89 kills per set and hit .472 (44-10-72) in a 3-0 week for the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors (23-0), who haven’t dropped a set all season. Hawaii, riding an NCAA-record consecutive sets-won streak of 69, remained the unanimous No. 1 in today’s AVCA Coaches Division I-II Top 15.
Parapunov had 18 kills on .640 (18-2-25) hitting in Saturday’s rematch with UC San Diego. He had 15 kills and a season-high six blocks against Concordia on Tuesday and 11 kills and five blocks in Friday’s match with UCSD. He had 12 blocks over nine sets for a 1.33 average.
Freshman of the week went to Punahou graduate Ryan Wilcox, UC Santa Barbara’s libero. Hawaii next hosts the third-ranked Gauchos on Friday and Saturday, the final regular-season home matches for the Warriors.
Also today, Hawaii fell a spot to 2 in the Ratings Percentage Index, a computer-generated ranking that measures strength of schedule. The Warriors were at 1 in the inaugural RPI.
In the AVCA Top 15, Hawaii received all 16 first-place votes for a second straight week. The top five stayed unchanged with defending NCAA champion Long Beach State (21-1) again the unanimous No. 2. Behind the 49ers are UC Santa Barbara (17-5), Pepperdine (18-6) and UCLA (17-7).
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USC (15-8), which defeated Long Beach State, Stanford and Brigham Young in the past 10 days, jumped from ninth to sixth.
