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When the honor roll was called on Monday, the Hawaii volleyball team was fully represented.
After winning its first four matches — all on the road — the Rainbow Warriors were ranked No. 1 in this week’s American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
On Monday afternoon, the Warriors swept the Big West’s weekly awards. Outside hitter Colton Cowell was named the top player, opposite attacker Rado Parapunov was selected as the best defender, and Spyros Chakas was honored as freshman of the week.
The Warriors, who were No. 2 last week, received 15 of the 16 first-place votes and earned 239 points to overtake Brigham Young for the top spot. The Cougars, who are 6-2, lost one of the four matches in a series against Grand Canyon last week.
Of the No. 1 ranking, UH coach Charlie Wade said in a telephone interview, the best thing is “the program getting recognition. I think this is three years in a row that we’ve been, for at least a week, No. 1. That speaks for the intent from the beginning, not just winning but getting back to where the program is year in and year out one of the elite programs in the country. That will continue to be the goal.”
Wade, in his 12th year as UH head coach, earned his 200th career coaching victory last week. In the past five seasons, UH is 93-18.
Because of the pandemic, the Big West allowed its members to schedule matches only against each other during the regular season. UH’s victories in the two-match series over UC Irvine and UC San Diego were considered nonconference matches, even though the three teams are Big West members.
“We’re fortunate to win four games on the road,” Wade said. “We’ve got a
lot of work to do to keep
improving.”
BYU, which received the other No. 1 vote, amassed 224 points.
Pepperdine was third with 195 points, followed by UC Santa Barbara and Lewis.
Cowell, a 6-1 senior, had 13 kills in each of the victories over UC San Diego. He averaged 4.33 kills per set. He also received 25 serves without an error.
Parapunov, a 6-9 senior, averaged 2.17 blocks per set against the Tritons.
After coming off the sideline against UC Irvine, Chakas started both matches against UCSD. He helped solidify the block, as well as producing three aces.
“It was, for sure, something special,” Chakas said of his first week of Division I-II volleyball. “Me and my teammates hadn’t played a game for a year. It was the first game after a long time for everyone. Especially when it comes with an award for everyone.”
The Warriors have a bye this weekend, then open Big West competition with a three-match set against UC Santa Barbara beginning on March 11. Only the March 11 and 12 matches will count toward the league standings.
“We’ve got Santa Barbara next, and they’re really good,” Wade said. “Playing them three times in a row at their place is going to be a huge challenge.”
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