For the second consecutive year, University of Hawaiʻi‘s Jakob Thelle and Charlie Wade were named Big West Men’s Volleyball Player and Coach of the Year, respectively.
The Player of the Year award is the fourth consecutive for a Rainbow Warrior and second straight for Thelle. He is UH‘s second straight two-time winner joining Rado Parapunov (2020–21). The award comes just a few days after the Tonsberg, Norway native repeated as Big West Championship Most Outstanding Player after helping UH to its second straight title, in four sets over UC Irvine.
For Wade, the award marks his second conference coach of the year award in 14 seasons as head coach. He has guided the Rainbow Warriors to two national titles (2021, ’22), three Big West championships (2019, ’22, ’23), two Big West regular season titles (2021, ’23) and six NCAA Tournament appearances (2015, ’17, ’19, ’21, ’22, ’23).
The Rainbow Warriors’ quest for a third straight national championship heads to the NCAA Tournament in Fairfax, Virginia. UH received the No. 2 seed and will play in the semifinals against either Penn State or the winner of Ohio State and King University. The Rainbow Warriors’ semifinal match is on May 4 at 1:30 p.m. HST. The NCAA championship match is on May 6 at 11 a.m. HST.
For more, visit the UH Mānoa Athletics website.
