Parapunov earns another Big West honor for No. 1 UH

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Hawaii opposite Rado Parapunov (19) reacts after a kill during the second set against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on Saturday.

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Rado Parapunov has received many high-fives from his Hawaii volleyball teammates this year. On Monday, the Rainbow Warriors junior opposite received one from the Big West when being named player of the week for a fifth time, a high for any conference player this season.

Parapunov put down 20 kills in each of No. 1 Hawaii’s victories over UC Santa Barbara last week at the Stan Sheriff Center. He averaged 5.71 kills per set, hitting .435 over the two nights, with half of his 20 kills on Friday coming in Set 2.

The Bulgarian national also had five aces, 10 digs and four blocks in the two matches. Parapunov leads the nation in points per set (5.50) and ranks third in hitting percentage (.484) and kills per set (4.43), and sixth in aces per set (0.53).

This is the seventh weekly honor of Parapunov’s career — adding to the program high — with the other two coming April 9 and 16, 2018. It was the sixth consecutive week that a Warrior won the weekly award; senior setter Joe Worsley earned it on March 25.

Also on Monday, Hawaii remained a unanimous No. 1 in the AVCA Coaches Division I-II Top 15 for the third consecutive week, receiving all 16 first-place votes. The Warriors (25-0, 8-0 Big West) close out the regular season Friday and Saturday at No. 2 Long Beach State (23-1, 8-0), the outcome deciding the conference regular-season champion as well as the top two seeds in the April 18-20 Big West tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors and 49ers already have clinched byes into the tournament semifinals on April 19. Long Beach State defeated Hawaii in the inaugural conference tournament last season en route to the NCAA title.

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Should the teams split this weekend, several tiebreakers are in place. The first would be sets won in the two matches, followed by points scored, percentage of sets won in all conference matches and total points scored in all conference matches divided by total points allowed.

Hawaii’s Ratings Percentage Index, a computer-generated program that rates strength of schedule, is back to 1 after being at 2 last week.