Warriors earn honors, return to No. 1 in volleyball

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A dominant weekend on the road produced a return to the top spot in a national poll and two conference awards for the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team.

After spending a week at No. 2 in the NVA/AVCA Men’s National Collegiate Coaches Poll, the Rainbow Warriors received 17 of 22 first-place votes to reclaim the top spot in the ranking released on Monday following a series sweep at Cal State Northridge.

Two efficient matches against the Matadors also earned UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias his third Big West Offensive Player of the Week award of the season and middle blocker Guilherme Voss was named the Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in 2023. The awards were also the fifth in their careers.

Mouchlias averaged 3.50 kills per set on .500 hitting, with totals of 21 kills and two errors in 38 attempts. The junior had eight kills against one error in the series opener at CSUN, then put away a match-high 13 kills in 23 swings in Saturday’s rematch. He was also in on nine blocks in the series.

Voss averaged 3.83 blocks over UH’s six sets at Northridge while also hitting .526 with 11 kills and one error in 19 attacks. He had five blocks, including one solo, last Friday and added six more on Saturday to lead the Warriors to a season-high 13 total blocks.

UH (20-2, 3-1 Big West) spent 11 weeks at No. 1 before being passed by Penn State last week. The Nittany Lions (18-3) dropped to No. 3 on Monday after falling to No. 13 Ohio State in five sets in their lone match last week. UCLA (21-2) moved up a spot to No. 2. Long Beach State (14-3) remained at No. 4 and Big West leader UC Irvine (14-6, 4-0) moved into a tie for fifth with Grand Canyon.

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UH also jumped three spots to No. 2 in the NCAA men’s volleyball RPI, trailing only UCLA and followed by LBSU and Penn State.

The Warriors are 7-0 on the road and head back to California for a series at UC Santa Barbara (5-13, 1-4) on Friday and Saturday.

BWC honor for Glagau, Van Sickle

Hawaii’s Kaylee Glagau and Brooke Van Sickle earned the Big West Pairs Team of the Week award for the second time this season after a 6-0 weekend at the Big West Challenge in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Glagau and Van Sickle won four matches in straight sets playing at the top of the order to help the Rainbow Wahine go undefeated in the event. They closed the tournament with a 21-15, 27-25 win to clinch a 3-2 win over Long Beach State.

Glagau and Van Sickle have earned the Big West weekly award six times over the last two seasons and are 19-1 this year and have won 16 consecutive matches.

The eighth-ranked BeachBows (20-3) take an 18-match winning streak into a match at No. 3 UCLA on Wednesday in Los Angeles.