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There will be plenty of stars on the court for the NCAA Tournament finals on Saturday.
Check out the top 20 players to know for this championship match between Hawai’i and UCLA.
Kana’i Akana, Hawai’i
Akana primarily coming off the bench as a serving specialist this season has six aces, including an ace in the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Ethan Champlain, UCLA
Accolades: First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF
Champlain entered the NCAA Tournament second on UCLA with a 2.72 kills per game average and in the nation’s top 25 with a .342 attack percentage. The outside attacker also had 14 kills on a .619 attack percentage and two aces in the sweep against Long Beach State in the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Spyros Chakas, Hawai’i
Accolades: Second-Team All-American, All-Big West
Chakas entered the NCAA Tournament in the top five of the Big West with both a 3.50 kills per game average and a .326 attack percentage. The outside attacker also leads Hawai’i and is fourth in the conference averaging 0.40 aes per game.
Ido David, UCLA
Accolades: First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF
David entered the NCAA Tournament in the MPSF’s top five with both a 3.54 kills per game average and a .365 attack percentage. The opposite led the Bruins with 17 kills and hit .619 in its semifinals sweep on Thursday.
Chaz Galloway, Hawai’i
Accolades: All-Big West
Galloway had double-digit kills in 10 matches and entered the NCAA Tournament the top 10 of the Big West with a .303 attack percentage. The outside attacker has 441 service receptions and a 93.4 percent successful passing rating.
Guy Genis, UCLA
Genis entered the NCAA Tournament third in the nation with a 1.25 blocks per game average. The middle attacker also is hitting .390 – the second straight year Genis has more than a .375 attack percentage.
Troy Gooch, UCLA
Gooch entered the NCAA Tournament third in the MPSF with a 1.87 digs per game average. The libero offense transfer from Purdue Fort Wayne had eight digs and did not commit a reception error against Long Beach State in the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Cole Hogland, Hawai’i
Hogland entered the NCAA Tournament fourth in the Big West with a 1.01 blocks per game average and had a season-high eight blocks against UC Irvine in the Big West Tournament finals. The middle attacker did not play in the regular season meeting against UCLA because of an illness.
Filip Humler, Hawai’i
Humler coming off the bench in the regular season win against UCLA had three kills.
Alex Knight, UCLA
Accolades: Second-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF
Knight has double-digit kills in 11 matches and entered the NCAA Tournament the nation’s top 25 with a career-high .338 attack percentage. The outside attacker also is in the conference’s top 10 averaging 0.85 blocks per game.
Merrick McHenry, UCLA
Accolades: First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF
McHenry entered the NCAA Tournament leading the nation with a .537 attack percentage and in the last four matches has a combined 40 kills and three errors. The middle attacker from Texas also is in the nation’s top 10 with a 1.08 blocks per game average.
Dimitrios Mouchlias, Hawai’i
Accolades: First-Team All-American, All-Big West
Mouchlias entered the NCAA Tournament in the nation’s top 15 and led the Big West with both a 3.96 kills per game average and a .397 attack percentage. The outside attacker also had a season-high 25 kills on a .364 attack percentage in the five-game victory against Penn State in the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
Coleman McDonough, UCLA
McDonough coming off the bench as a serving specialist had an ace in the NCAA Tournament semifinals against Long Beach State.
J.R. Norris IV, UCLA
Norris entered the NCAA Tournament hitting .582 – the second straight year the middle attacker has more than .575 attack percentage. In addition, Norris had five kills on an .833 attack percentage in a sweep against Stanford in the MPSF Tournament finals.
Kurt Nusterer, Hawai’i
Accolades: Big West All-Freshman
Nusterer has 17 blocks and a 0.77 blocks per game average, including three blocks against UCLA in March. The middle attacker also had five kills and hit .833 in the regular season meeting.
Zach Rama, UCLA
Rama came off the bench and had a season-high 12 kills on a .526 attack percentage in the regular season loss to Hawai’i.
Andrew Rowan, UCLA
Accolades: National Newcomer of the Year, MPSF Freshman of the Year, First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF
Rowan, who as a freshman was permanently inserted into the starting lineup in February, helped the Bruins enter the NCAA Tournament with a nation-best .381 attack percentage. The setter also had two aces and 40 assists as UCLA hit .458 in its semifinals sweep against Long Beach State.
Brett Sheward, Hawai’i
Accolades: All-Big West
Sheward entered the NCAA Tournament second in the conference and in the nation’s top 10 with a 2.13 digs per game average. The libero is also second on the team with 490 service receptions and has 95.1 percent successful passing rating.
Jakob Thelle, Hawai’i
Accolades: National Player of the Year, Big West Player of the Year, First-Team All-American, All-Big West
Thelle entered the NCAA Tournament leading the nation with a 10.73 assists per game average and guided the offense to the nation’s second-best attack percentage at .373. The setter also is sixth in the nation with a 0.36 aces per game average and has 121 career aces.
Keonii Thiim, Hawai’i
Thiim primarily coming off the bench as a serving specialist this season has 20 aces.
Guilherme Voss, Hawai’i
Accolades: First-Team All-American, All-Big West
Voss entered the NCAA Tournament leading Hawai’i and being fifth in the nation with a 1.16 blocks per game average, including having seven blocks in the Big West Tournament finals. The middle attacker also has a career-best .556 attack percentage.