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There are plenty of highly touted players on both sides of the net as Long Beach and Hawai’i will face each other Saturday to decide the national championship.
Check out the 25 players to know in this NCAA Tournament finals.
Alex Nikolov, Long Beach State outside attacker
Nikolov, the 2022 National Player of the Year, leads the nation with a 0.59 aces per game average and is third in the country averaging 4.57 kills per game = on a .386 attack percentage. The freshman also had a team-high 20 kills on a .405 attack percentage as Long Beach State rallied from a two-game deficit to beat UCLA in five games in the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Jakob Thelle, Hawai’i setter
Thelle has guided the Rainbow Warriors to the sixth-best attack percentage in the nation at .337 and is second in the nation averaging 0.58 aces per game. The Big West Player of the Year has eight aces in two NCAA Tournament matches and during the regular season had four aces in a loss to the Beach.
Mason Briggs, Long Beach State libero
Briggs leads the Big West and is fifth in the nation with a 2.54 digs per game average. In addition, the All-American did not commit a service reception error in the three previous meetings against Hawai’i and has a 95.6 percentage success pass rating this season.
Guilherme Voss, Hawai’i middle attacker
Voss is second in the nation with a 1.36 blocks per game average and has at least five blocks in five consecutive matches. The middle attacker also has a .476 attack percentage and has hit more than .400 in all three matches against the Beach.
Dimitrios Mouchlias, Hawai’i opposite
Mouchilias is in the nation’s top 25 with both a 3.59 kills per game average and a .350 attack percentage. In addition, Mouchlias was held to a combined nine kills and a negative attack percentage in the two regular season losses to Long Beach State, but had 16 kills against the Beach in the Big West Tournament finals.
Chakas Spyros, Hawai’i outside attacker
Spyros is in the top 10 of the Big West with both a 3.30 kills per game average and a .321 attack percentage, including having 16 kills and hitting .483 as Hawai’i swept Long Beach State in the Big West Tournament finals. The outside attacker also is in the nation’s top 20 with a 0.45 aces per game average.
Spencer Olivier, Long Beach State outside attacker
Olivier is in the top 10 of the Big West with both a 3.23 kills per game average and a .327 attack percentage. The outside attacker also had a season-high 21 kills in a regular season victory against Hawai’i.
Clarke Godbold, Long Beach State opposite
Godbold had 11 kills and zero errors on a .688 attack percentage in the NCAA Tournament semifinals win against UCLA. The opposite has double-digit kills in eight of the last 11 matches and defensively leads Long Beach State with a 0.90 blocks per game average.
Aidan Knipe, Long Beach State setter
Knipe is third in the nation with a 10.88 assists per game average and guided the offense to the nation’s second-best attack percentage in the nation at .353. Knipe is also the son of Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe.
Shane Holdaway, Long Beach State middle attacker
Holdaway is in the top 10 of the Big West with a 0.83 blocks per game average. The middle attacker has not committed an attack error in the postseason and has a combined 15 kills on a .625 attack percentage.
Brett Sheward, Hawai’i libero
Sheward is third in the Big West with a 2.09 digs per game average, including having a season-high 16 digs in the NCAA Tournament semifinals victory against Ball State. The libero also has a team-high 570 service receptions and a 94.6 percent successful pass rating.
Chaz Galloway, Hawai’i outside attacker
Galloway is third on the Rainbow Warriors with a 2.17 kills per game average. The outside attacker also is third on the team averaging 1.57 digs per game and has a 92.6 percent successful pass rating on more than 300 service receptions.
Simon Torwie, Long Beach State serving specialist
Torwie had the match-winning ace in the fifth-game overtime against UCLA in the NCAA Tournament semifinals. Torwie finished the semifinals leading all players with four aces and had a combined three aces in the three previous meetings against Hawai’i this season.
Marc Moody, Long Beach State middle attacker
Moody leads Long Beach State with a 1.11 blocks per game average and had a team-high four blocks in the Big West Tournament finals against Hawai’i.
Cole Hogland, Hawai’i middle attacker
Hogland is in the nation’s top 20 with a 0.95 blocks per game average. The middle attacker also has not committed an attack error in six of the last eight matches and has hit at least .500 in all but one of those eight matches.
Nathan Harlan, Long Beach State serving specialist
Harlan has 12 aces this season and has committed two or fewer service errors in eight consecutive matches.
Calvin Sanborn, Long Beach State serving specialist
Sanborn has 10 aces and 13 service errors this season. In addition, Sanborn has not committed a service error in six of the last eight matches and had an ace in the NCAA Tournament semifinals against UCLA.
Kana’i Akana, Hawai’i serving specialist
Akana has an ace in the team’s five-game victory against Ball State in the NCAA Tournament semifinals. The junior also did not commit a service error in the three previous meetings against Long Beach State.
Grant Marocchi, Long Beach State middle attacker
Marocchi in limited playing time this season has a 0.95 block per game average. The middle attacker playing for the first time in almost a month had two blocks and a kill in the NCAA Tournament semifinals against UCLA.
Keoni Thiim, Hawai’i serving specialist
Thiim had an ace in the Rainbow Warriors’ last meeting against the Beach. In addition, Thiim had at least one ace in five consecutive matches early in the season.
Jack Walmer, Hawai’i serving specialist
Walmer has six aces this season and in the postseason has committed three service errors in four matches.
Filip Humler, Hawai’i outside attacker
Humler came off the bench and played late in the third game of the team’s five-game win against Ball State in the NCAA Tournament semifinals. The junior had a combined five kills in the two regular season losses to Long Beach State.
Todd Alaka’i, Hawai’i opposite
Alaka’i came off the bench and had seven kills and two blocks in a regular season loss to Long Beach State.
Eric Beebe, Long Beach State setter
Beebe is the backup setter and has appeared in two matches this season.
‘Eleu Choy, Hawai’i
Choy has appeared in both of the Rainbow Warriors’ NCAA Tournament matches.