Hawaii’s Charlie Wade was named the Big West Men’s Volleyball Coach of the Year for the third time in four seasons on Tuesday.
Wade, who on Friday surpassed Mike Wilton as the program’s all-time leader in wins, coached the Rainbow Warriors to a fourth conference championship with a four-set win over No. 1 Long Beach State on Saturday.
Hawaii (26-5) finished second in the Big West during the regular season, one game behind the Beach, and beat Long Beach State twice in three tries.
UH was awarded the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will travel Columbus, Ohio, where it will open play against the winner of a play-in game between Daemen and Penn State in the quarterfinal round on May 8.
In 16 seasons at UH, Wade has led Hawaii to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and ’22 and seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
He is the fifth winningest active coach in NCAA Division I-II with 318 and is among 22 coaches to surpass 300 career victories.
Long Beach State setter Moni Nikolov swept the two individual major awards handed out on Tuesday, as he was named both the Big West Freshman of the Year and Big West Player of the Year.
4 Warriors make USA U21 National Team
Hawaii’s Tread Rosenthal, Justin Todd, Finn Kearney and Kainoa Wade were named to the 2025 U21 United States Men’s National Team on Tuesday.
The group playing in the NORCECA Men’s U21 Pan American Cup will train July 27-Aug. 2 at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., ahead of its departure for the tournament in Calgary, Canada, on Aug. 3-11.
The team, which will play in the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship, will train Aug. 7-17 before competing in Jiangmen, China, on Aug. 19-Sept. 1.
Kearney and Rosenthal were on the NORCECA U21 Continental Championship team that won gold in 2024 and the 2023 Boys U19 U.S. National Team that had the program’s best finish ever at the U19 World Championship when they placed fourth.
UCLA’s Kahale Clini, a Punahou alumnus, also made the team.
