Big West Preview: Long Beach State and Hawaii the 2018 Favorites

  0 Brandon Johnson | January 02nd, 2018 | Big West, College - Men's Indoor, News

TOP STORIES:

  • New Conference: The Big West becomes the first major conference to sponsor men’s volleyball. With the addition of the Big West Conference, there are now five major conferences in division I-II men’s volleyball with five automatic bids available for the NCAA tournament.
  • Long Beach State’s Big Three: The 49ers return three All-Americans for their junior seasons in first-team outside T.J. Defalco (AVCA National Player of the Year) and setter Josh Tuiniga, along with second-team opposite Kyle Ensing. All three also have national team experience playing for Team USA.
  • What Position is S.V.T. Going to Play? Hawaii junior Stijn van Tilburg is one of the most dynamic players in college, garnering AVCA All-American First Team honors in 2017 as an opposite attacker. However, the Rainbow Warriors have another dynamic player at the same position in Rado Parapunov who could push S.V.T. to the outside hitter position.

PRESEASON POLL:

BIG WEST PREVIEW:

TOP RETURNERS:

  • T.J. Defalco – Junior Outside Hitter (Long Beach State)

~ 2017 Stats: 3.99 kills per set, 178 digs, 33 aces. 2017 All-MPSF First Team, 2017 AVCA First-Team All-America, AVCA National Player of the Year.

  • Kyle Ensing – Junior Outside Hitter (Long Beach State)

~ 2017 Stats: 3.37 kills per set, 162 digs, 85 blocks. 2017 All-MPSF First Team, 2017 AVCA Second-Team All-America

~ 2017 Stats: 1,128 assists (11.08 assists per set), 141 digs, 30 aces. 2017 All-MPSF First Team, 2017 AVCA First-Team All-America

~ 2017 Stats: 250 digs (2.36 digs per set). 2017 All-MPSF Second Team, 2017 AVCA Second-Team All-America

~ 2017 Stats: 4.25 kills per set, 115 digs, 0.69 blocks per set. 2017 All-MPSF First Team, 2017 AVCA First-Team All-America

~ 2017 Stats: 3.05 kills per set, 1.31 digs per set

~ 2017 Stats: 1.88 kills per set (.421 hitting %), 1.19 blocks per set. 2017 All-MPSF Honorable Mention/2017 MPSF Freshman of the Year

~ 2017 Stats: 3.99 kills per set, 74 digs, 51 blocks. 2017 All-MPSF Second Team

~ 2017 Stats: 344 kills per set, school-record 63 aces. 2017 All-MPSF Honorable Mention

  • Hayden Boehle – Senior Libero/Outside Hitter (UC Santa Barbara)

~ 2017 Stats: 2.05 kills per set, 1.60 digs per set

~ 2017 Stats: 2.22 kills per set, 0.68 blocks per set. 2017 MPSF All-Freshman Team

~ 2017 Stats: 4.21 kills per set, 102 digs, 62 blocks. 2017 All-MPSF Second Team

~ 2017 Stats: 9.08 assists per set, 107 digs

THE FAVORITES:

  • Long Beach State (VolleyMob Preseason #2)

~ 2017 highlights plus 2018 outlook: 27-4 (16-2 MPSF), lost to BYU in the national semifinals. Long Beach State returns their top three players in T.J. Defalco, Josh Tuaniga, and Kyle Ensing, but they will need to find pieces to replace recently graduated seniors Andrew Sato, Bryce Yould, Amir Lugo-Rodriguez, and Andrew Whitt. Simon Anderson, Nick Amado, Bjarne Huus, and Louis Richard are all expected to play a major role for the 49ers in 2018.

  • Hawaii (VolleyMob Preseason #7)

~ 2017 highlights plus 2018 outlook: 27-6 (14-4 MPSF), lost to Ohio State in the national semifinals. The Rainbow Warriors have a huge hole to fill by recently graduated setter Jennings Franciskovic. Joe Worsley saw some action in 2017 and is expected to see the majority of the time in 2018. Stijn van Tilburg, Larry Tuileta, Patrick Gasman, Rado Parapunov, Brett Rosenmeier, and Austin Matautia all return from a strong 2017 team, while Gage Worsley, Max Rosenfeld and Jake Meyer headline a strong freshman class. Hawaii hosts three tournaments throughout the year and will continue to play double home and double road contests during league play in 2018.

THE CONTENDERS:

  • UC Irvine (VolleyMob Preseason #8)

~ 2017 highlights plus 2018 outlook: 20-7 (13-5 MPSF), advanced to the MPSF semifinals. The Anteaters lost a substantial amount of production in recent graduates Michael Saeta, Tamir Hershko, Dillon Hoffman, and Thomas Hodges. However, they return Scott Stadick, Aaron Koubi, Dante Chakravorti, Reid Dominguez and Matthew Younggren while welcoming in a strong freshman class that includes: Zevan Williams, Sean Farmer, and Alexandre Nsakanda.

  • CSUN (VolleyMob Preseason #13)

~ 2017 highlights plus 2018 outlook: 12-15 (5-13 MPSF). The Matadors enter the 2018 season with high hopes following a disappointing 2017 campaign. The squad returns Arvis Greene, Dimitar Kalchev, Skylar Lillethorup, Josiah Byers and Eric Chance, while welcoming in transfer Emmet Enriques from Cal Bapist and Maclej Ptaszynski from Poland. CSUN graduates just two players in C.J. Suarez and Jakub Ciesla.

ROUNDING OUT THE FIELD:

  • UC Santa Barbara (VolleyMob Preseason #18)

~ 2017 highlights plus 2018 outlook: 10-16 (5-13 MPSF).  The Gauchos lose a majority of their 2017 offensive production in the graduation of Jacob Delson, as well as their defensive anchor in libero Parker Boehle. But the young team will rely on Hayden Boehle, Keenan Sanders, Henri Cherry, and Corey Chavers to turn the tide from a rough 2017 season.

  • UC San Diego (VolleyMob Preseason #20)

~ 2017 highlights plus 2018 outlook: 10-16 (5-13 MPSF). The young Tritons team will roster 10 freshman and two redshirt freshman for the 2018 season. They will look to Tanner Syftestad, Milosh Stojcic and Ryan Lew for leadership and experience as they navigate a tough Big West conference.

VOLLEYMOB BIG WEST PREDICTION

  1. Long Beach State
  2. Hawaii
  3. UC Irvine
  4. CSUN
  5. UC Santa Barbara
  6. UC San Diego

 

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