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Hawaii men’s volleyball hitter Stijn van Tilburg selected to All-Big West first team

Cindy Luis
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Rainbow Warrior Stijn van Tilburg took a swing against the Long Beach State 49er Simon Andersen and Josh Tuaniga during a match Saturday at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif. Van Tilburg repeated as an All-Big West first-team selection, one of five Hawaii men’s volleyball players honored when the conference announced its postseason awards today.

Senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg repeated as an All-Big West first-team selection, one of five Hawaii men’s volleyball players honored when the conference announced its postseason awards today.

It was the third first-team award for senior hitter van Tilburg, his first coming as a sophomore when the Rainbow Warriors were in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. He also was MPSF honorable mention and all-freshman in 2016.

Senior setter Joe Worsley, junior middle Patrick Gasman and junior opposite Rado Parapunov all repeated as first-team selections while sophomore libero Gage Worsley.

Big West regular-season champion Long Beach State had four players on the 14-member first team, including player of the year Kyle Ensing. Joining the senior opposite were three other 49er seniors: middle Nick Amado, setter Josh Tuaniga and hitter TJ DeFalco, the 2018 POY.

Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe also repeated as coach of the year after leading the 49ers to a 10-0 conference record and 25-1 regular-season record. The 49ers handed the Warriors (25-2, 8-2) their first losses of the season last week to earn the top seed in this week’s Big West tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Freshman of the Year went to UC Santa Barbara outside hitter Ryan Wilcox, one of three honorable mentions and one of seven on the all-freshman team. The Punahou School graduate was No. 2 in kills (232) and No. 3 in aces (23 for the Gauchos. He also had 13 kills, hitting .300, when UCSB ended Hawaii’s record consecutive sets-won streak at 74 in a 3-1 loss to the Warriors on April 6.

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