Hawaii volleyball hitter Rado Parapunov earns BWC honor as Warriors fall to No. 2 behind BYU

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii opposite Rado Parapunov (19) drops to his knee at teammate Max Rosenfeld (13) after he made a kill during the third set against the BYU Cougars at Friday’s match.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Hawaii opposite Rado Parapunov (19) drops to his knee at teammate Max Rosenfeld (13) after he made a kill during the third set against the BYU Cougars at Friday’s match.

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Friday was the 50th sellout in the Stan Sheriff Center for a Hawaii athletic team. Senior opposite Rado Parapunov matched that total with his number of attacks, putting down a career-high 30 of them in the Rainbow Warriors’ reverse sweep of Brigham Young on Friday to gain a split of the men’s volleyball matches between Nos. 1 and 2.

Parapunov’s success did not go unnoticed by the Big West … again. The Bulgarian national re-set his own conference record, picking up his 10th Player of the Week award on Monday, the third of this season.

Parapunov also received the award this season on Jan. 21 and Feb. 10, the latter setting the Big West mark. The 30 kills was the most for a Warrior since Brook Sedore in 2013 and has Parapunov 14 kills shy of becoming the 18th player in program history to reach 1,000.

The 50 swings also was a career best for Parapunov, who hit .440 against the Cougars on Friday. He had a team-high 10 kills in Thursday’s loss to BYU.

Parapunov ranks No. 3 nationally in kills per set (4.47) and points per set (5.28).

Also on Monday, Hawaii opened the week for the first time this season not the top-ranked team.

BYU (17-1), which handed the Rainbow Warriors (15-1) their first loss of the year, received 15 of 16 first-place votes to move to No. 1 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Men’s Division I-II Top 15.

The Warriors, who received the last vote while dropping to No. 2, were the preseason No. 1 pick and held the top ranking for the past eight weeks of the regular season.

Hawaii opens Big West play Friday at Cal State Northridge, the only conference member not ranked. The Warriors also are in the Matadome on Saturday, then travel for a nonconference match at No. 8 Pepperdine (7-6) on March 17.

The Big West continued to dominate the national poll with five of the top seven teams. UC Santa Barbara (14-2) remained at No. 3, with Long Beach State (10-1) at No. 4. Behind No. 5 Lewis (15-4, MIVA) are UC Irvine (10-7) and UC San Diego (13-5), the Anteaters and Tritons tied for No. 6.