Hawaii senior Rado Parapunov was named the AVCA National Player of the Year today, becoming the third UH men’s volleyball player to earn the award.
Parapunov, a 6-foot-9 opposite, ranks third in the nation with 4.41 kills per set and was named a first-team All-American for the third time on Monday. He also won the AVCA’s Player of the Week award three times this season and earned Big West Player of the Year honors last week.
Parapunov joins Yuval Katz (1996) and Costas Theocharidis (2001 and 2003) as the only UH players to be named National Player of the Year in the 30-year history of the award.
Parapunov helped the Rainbow Warriors (15-1) hold the No. 1 spot in the national polls through an undefeated regular season. The Warriors were awarded the top seed in this week’s NCAA tournament and face Big West rival UC Santa Barbara in the national semifinals on Thursday at the Covelli Center on the Ohio State campus. The match is set for 11 a.m. and will be streamed on ncaa.com.