OTB names 3 Warriors preseason All-America
Returning AVCA All-Americans Stijn van Tilburg and Larry Tuileta were selected to the 10-member first team while Rado Parapunov was honorable mention.
Vinnie Lopes does a nice job at Off the Block.
Preseason First-Team All-Americans:
Setter: Josh Tuaniga, Long Beach State
Opposite: Stijn van Tilburg, Hawai’i
Opposite: Kyle Ensing, Long Beach State
Outside attacker: Jake Arnitz, UCLA
Outside attacker: TJ DeFalco, Long Beach State
Outside attacker: Brenden Sander, BYU
Outside attacker: Nicolas Szerszen, Ohio State
Middle attacker: Jeff Jendryk, Loyola
Libero: Evan Enriques, Stanford
Libero: Larry Tuileta, Hawai’i
Second team
Setter: Leo Durkin, BYU
Setter: Micah Ma’a, UCLA
Opposite: Arvis Greene, CSUN
Opposite: Calvin Mende, Penn State
Outside attacker: Ryan Coenen, Lewis
Outside attacker: David Wieczorek, Pepperdine
Middle attacker: Price Jarman, BYU
Middle attacker: Kevin Rakestraw, Stanford
Middle attacker: Scott Stadick, UC Irvine
Middle attacker: Matt Walsh, Ball State
Receiving votes on 2 or more ballots (honorable mention)
Matt Szews, Ball State
Tanner Syftestad, UC San Diego
Joshua Ayzenburg, Sacred Heart
Matt Yoshimoto, Lewis
Mitch Perinar, Lewis
JT Hatch, UCLA
Daenan Gyimah, UCLA
Aaron Koubi, UC Irvine
Vasilis Mandilaris, Barton
Jeff Sprayberry, King
Blake Leeson, Ohio State
Jordan Ewert, Stanford
Dimitar Kalchev, CSUN
Rado Parapunov, Hawai’i
George Huhmann, Princeton
Luke Braswell, Penn State
Gabe Woffindin, St. Francis
Last season van Tilburg was the recipient of OTB’s Bryan Ivie Award, given to the nation’s best opposite. The junior from Amsterdam, Netherlands helped the Rainbow Warriors to their second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three seasons. He ranked third nationally with 4.25 kills per set and was 11th in hitting percentage (.370).
Tuileta, a senior from Honolulu, was an AVCA second team All-American in his first season at UH after transferring from USC. He ranked fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and 14th nationally in digs per set (2.36). Last summer he was the starting libero for the U.S. Pan American team.
Parapunov made five starts as a freshman last season, averaging 2.07 kills per set. The sophomore from Sofia, Bulgaria was named to the MPSF All-Freshman team.
Excited for the upcoming season! This team looks great – hoping to live up to the expectations and we will be making a trip to UCLA in May! Let’s GO BOWS!
crazy thing is tuileta isn’t gonna be the libero this upcoming season, at least i don’t think he is, because gage is just out of this world.
po’okela – if Gage starts, Wade will keep a very close eye on him, as he does for every true freshman that starts right away. If Gage starts getting erratic, I’m sure Wade won’t hesitate to bench him for Tui.
Got my season tickets yesterday (YES!!!) and noticed that the pocket schedule has Tui’s & Mamane’s pictures on it.
Jan 4th can’t come soon enough. Don’t forget to register for the A’o A Koa Dinner on Jan 21.
Men’s volleyball will have only 10 conference regular season matches in the new Big West VB conference but will play 8 matches vs. MPSF teams.
Other non-conference matches are vs.
Juniata College,
Stevens Institute of Technology ,
Lincoln Memorial University ,
Barton College ,
Sacred Heart,
Thompson Rivers ,
Lees-McRae.
Plus Lewis & Penn St.,
For anyone who might care – the entire DI-II MVB 2018 schedule:
http://www.offtheblockblog.com/2017/12/complete-college-mens-volleyball-match-schedule-for-2018-season/
Merry Christmas!
http://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=45217
new thread up
for now, Gage is penciled in as the starting libero. But as Wade says, always nice to have options. They know what Tuileta can do.
The stage won’t be too big for Worsley. He’s played a ton of international ball for USA. IMHO he’ll replace Erik Shoji as the national team libero when Shoji decides to retire.