In the lead-up to opening night, Hawaii men’s volleyball coach Charlie Wade called Rainbow Warriors junior Jakob Thelle “something of a unicorn.”
One week into the season, Thelle already has a unique place in program history.
Thelle was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association/Sports Imports Division I-II Men’s Player of the Week on Tuesday, making him the first UH setter to earn the honor.
Prior to Thelle’s selection, the award had been largely reserved for outside hitters and opposites among the previous 12 UH players to win the national honor since 2000. Most recently, Warriors opposite Rado Parapunov won the award a record three times last season and five times in his career, one short of the school record held by Costas Theocharidis.
Thelle became the 13th player in program history to win the award a day after picking up his first Big West Offensive Player of the Week honor.
Thelle led the Warriors to a .367 hitting percentage with 72 assists in top-ranked UH’s two wins over No. 7 Loyola Chicago. He also put away five kills of his own and was in on five blocks while averaging 10.29 assists per set.
He fired nine aces with four errors in 47 service attempts in the series, putting his aggressive jump serve in play at a 91% clip. Thelle put together seven-point scoring runs from the service line to open the third set of the opening match on Jan. 5 and again in the second set of the rematch last Friday.
“He’s playing at a pretty high level right now,” Wade said after the series finale.
The Rainbow Warriors topped the first Off the Block media poll of the season, released on Tuesday. UH received 10 of 12 first-place votes, with the remaining two going to No. 3 Pepperdine.
Rainbow Warriors Volleyball
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Edward Waters (0-0) vs. No. 1 Hawaii (2-0)
>> When: Friday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 5 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Tickets: etickethawaii.com, Stan Sheriff Center box office
