On Tuesday morning, the Hawaii men’s volleyball team made the 77-mile drive on California’s I-5 from Irvine to La Jolla.

This season, opposite attacker Rado Parapunov is on a three-month drive for a national title.

“This is it,” said Parapunov, a fifth-year senior from Bulgaria. “I’m done after this. I want to leave something behind when I’m done. I want a good memory.”

On Tuesday, Parapunov was celebrated twice. The AVCA named Parapunov as the national player of the week. The Big West named Parapunov as its player of the week, and also chose libero Gage Worsley as defensive player of the week.

The honors followed the Warriors’ back-to-back victories over UC Irvine to open the 2021 season. Although UH and UCI are Big West members, those matches did not count toward the league standings. The Warriors’ road matches against UC San Diego tonight and Thursday night also are deemed as “nonconference” meetings.

Parapunov amassed 13 and 15 kills against UCI, including the 1,000th of his UH career. But Parapunov said he is not concerned about individual statistics or awards.

“We’re playing a team sport,” Parapunov said in a telephone interview. “The individual part is not as big as the team’s.”

Parapunov said it was an “amazing” feeling to play volleyball after an 11-month hiatus without an NCAA match. Parapunov, who has not returned to Bulgaria since 2019, was resourceful in maintaining fitness during the pandemic.

“We did what the state allowed back in Hawaii,” Parapunov said. “In the park, or when the gym was open, or the beach, or home on the carpet. There were times it was only at home. But some of the times we (worked out) on the beach. We just worked around.”

Parapunov, Worsley, middle Patrick Gasman and outside hitter Colton are the mainstays in the Warriors’ rotation. In the UCI matches, Spyros Chakas replaced Chaz Galloway to solidify the block and amp the serving. Max Rosenfeld and Guilherme Voss took turns at the second middle. UH coach Charlie Wade said every player has practiced with the top rotation.

“What we did since the middle of January, on Fridays and Saturdays, practice was just full matches, full sets,” Wade said. “We were playing three, four, five sets, and just playing and playing and playing. We (charted) the whole thing. We knew who could do what. Everyone has an idea what they can do when they go on the A side and (in) different combinations. Both setters have set the A side. All the outside hitters and middles had time there.”