Big West MVB awards announced, Hawaii overlooked for big ones

Opposite Rado Parapunov was among five players on the Big West first team for UH, which was snubbed for the major Big West awards. / Photo by Cindy Ellen Russell, Star-Advertiser

The 2019 Big West men’s volleyball postseason awards were announced on Monday.

Here’s the breaking writeup.


IMHO a big surprise that Coach of Year went to the Long Beach State’s Alan Knipe.
Player of the Year to Beach senior Kyle Ensing.
Freshman of the Year to UCSB’s Ryan Wilcox, Punahou.
Hawaii has five on the first team, Beach has four.
Patrick Gasman, Rado Parapunov, Stijn van Tilburg, Gage and Joe Worsley.


COMMENTS

  1. Brandon April 15, 2019 10:05 am

    Rado was robbed immensely. Wade as well.

    This is ridiculous.


  2. oib April 15, 2019 10:36 am

    Coaches and Warriors: Prove the PoY and CoY awards wrong in the final two matches.


  3. iGrokSpock April 15, 2019 11:34 am

    Reluctantly as a Warrior fan, I would have gone with either DeFalco or Tuaniga as player of the year.


  4. 808 April 15, 2019 12:30 pm

    IMO, even though you win 74 straight sets and 25 straight matches, if you stumble at the end, you can’t complain about being snubbed by the players/teams that broke your string. The job isn’t done anyway. Individual awards probably weren’t what the team was shooting for this year. Finish strong, Warriors. Sweep through the BWT, take that NCAA bid and knock everyone off to get that national title that was/is the goal for the year.


  5. BEACH PLEASE April 15, 2019 12:47 pm

    Why is everyone shocked? Yes, UH MVB won 74 sets in a row, but LBSU won two straight matches against us, albeit at their house. We don’t deserve to win any of the major awards in my humble opinion. Besides, what really matters is WINNING IT ALL!!!!!! I’m not so sure if we can win it all anymore after watching the last two matches at The Pyramid. Also, let’s not forget that the NCAA tournament will be held in Long Beach, which is totally unfair. As much as I want to believe that UH can win it all I can’t really say that with confidence after seeing our team lose two straight gut-wrenching matches . Does anyone really think we can beat Long Beach this their house (The Pyramid) ??? If so, we’ve only beaten them once in the last 9 tries and that was at The Stan Sheriff Center. Sorry, The Truth hurts!!!


  6. Derek April 15, 2019 12:51 pm

    IF Hawaii did split the Long Beach series last weekend we would be talking about Wade and Rado for coach and player of the year award. It buggs me that UH can’t beat Long Beach State. After all those sweeps, is it because UH’s legs got tired going to 4 and 5 sets and couldn’t jump higher and concentration was less the game goes longer. Could be emotional and mental fatigue? All I know is that Charlie Wade, his coaches, and his players need to get all in the open and talk about what happened and how they are going to win this week and hopefully in the NCAA tournament to bring the National Championship. To not win the National
    Championship would be a HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT and I mean capital D. Wade went to Rado too much and he was obviously tired and made a lot of errors in game 4 and 5. Should have gone more to the middle (look at the percentages). Also, UH got outblocked. That’s has to change against LBSU. Wade and Co. needs to figure it out quick. Otherwise, it might be Aloha. Gotta get over the hump, I think this UH team is the best in a long time, I mean 5 first team players and Solbrig is no slough either and Cowell is such a pleasant surprise this year. Hawaii should go all the way this year, no ifs and buts. As Nike says, “Just Do It.” Mental emotional state, and execution!


  7. HaikuFan575 April 15, 2019 12:57 pm

    Is Hawaii at risk of being left out of the NCAA Tournament this year if they do not win the Big West Tournament?


  8. HaikuFan575 April 15, 2019 1:03 pm

    I am surprised that HC Charlie Wade is not the Big West Coach of the Year. Even though we were snubbed, we have an opportunity to prove that we have the best coach and best players in the country by winning the Big West and the NCAA Tournament. However, if Hawaii does stumble in the Big West Tournament, will Hawaii be chosen as an at-large? Being snubbed last year has tested my faith in the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Tournament committee to pick the best two at-larges out of the seven teams that are in the tournament.


  9. Big Island Volleyball Fan April 15, 2019 2:08 pm

    Cindy, you said you were surprised by the committee’s choices. Whom would you have awarded coach and player of the year awards? Curious to hear your preferences.


  10. Andrew April 15, 2019 2:27 pm

    I think the committee got it right. LBSU sweeper Hawaii. What were you expecting? Coach of the number 1 team got the award. Not a big surprise


  11. Andrew April 15, 2019 2:28 pm

    Swept*


  12. haka April 15, 2019 2:57 pm

    Looks like our next Wahine is finally here!
    Welcome Hanna!


  13. haka April 15, 2019 3:00 pm

    Or is finally officially announced…


  14. Maverick April 15, 2019 3:07 pm

    I agree that Wade should have gotten COY, regardless of what happened this past weekend. LBSU returned all but one starter from its national championship squad (and 5 2018 AVCA All-Americans), and was favored to win the Big West & national titles this year. Hawaii also returned a lot, but significantly improved its play this year, and leads the NCAA in 5 major statistical categories as of today. Five fewer regular season losses as compared to last year. Record set win streak, 25 match win streak. That’s coaching. Knipe met expectations but Wade exceeded expectations.

    Regarding POY, it is well within the realms of possibility that Rado and Joe split the vote, allowing Ensing to win. Rado has the most BW POW awards, but Joe has set the team to the NCAA’s highest hitting percentage, including 2 hitters in the top 5. If Joe was not a serious contender, then Rado was hurt by recency bias…hitting .160 this past weekend.

    Question for the posters: who would you have voted for BW POY, Rado or Joe?


  15. Manoafan April 15, 2019 3:51 pm

    How can you win Big West Player of the Week FIVE times and not get Player of the Year?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


  16. Manoafan April 15, 2019 3:53 pm

    #10 Hanna is official. UH athletics Women’s volleyball website.

    I haven’t gotten Women’s season tickets for years. I think I may start again this Fall. The recruits plus the Oregon transfers is such a totally different team with so much offense, it’s crazy!


  17. Cindy Luis April 15, 2019 4:25 pm

    https://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=49429
    new thread up about Hellvig.
    6. I was surprised only because the Beach was expected to win. They basically returned everyone for the national championship team.
    Hawaii was considered to be good coming into the season, picked No. 2. but for them to go undefeated without losing a set until UCSB was impressive.
    If I had to choose a Beach POY would have gone with Tuaniga.
    I might have voted for J. Worsley


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