Life in the Rosenthal family household is so competitive, Tread Rosenthal couldn’t even gloat about winning the Big West Player of the Year honor in men’s volleyball on Tuesday.
On the same day the Hawaii junior setter joined Jakob Thelle and Rado Parapunov as the only Rainbow Warriors ever to earn the Big West’s top honor, his sister, Tanon, earned the West Coast Conference Pair of the Year honor in beach volleyball with teammate Anna Pelloia at Loyola Marymount.
Two major college awards earned in the same day by one family perfectly encapsulates the competitive nature of a household with father Mike, a nine-year veteran of the NFL, and mom Lindsay, who was a volleyball standout at Notre Dame.
“I think we’re all kind of studs,” Rosenthal said before practice Tuesday as the Hawaii men’s volleyball team gets ready to play in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday against the winner of Friday’s match between Belmont Abbey and Southern California at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. “It’s not super crazy in our family to have success, but we all kind of come together and celebrate together.”
All three Big West teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament were represented among the three major conference awards handed out Tuesday as voted on by the league’s six head coaches.
Long Beach State coach Nick MacRae, in his first season in charge after replacing Alan Knipe, earned Coach of the Year honors after the Beach defeated Hawaii in five sets to win the conference title on Saturday.
UC Irvine’s Andrej Jokanovic, whose team will play in the UCLA Regional on Friday against Penn State, was named the Big West Freshman of the Year.
Rosenthal, who won that award two years ago, is a three-time, All-Big West first-team selection and can become the third player in conference history to earn that honor a fourth time next season.
He led the Big West averaging 10.63 assists per set and is one of eight semifinalists for the AVCA National Player of the Year award.
“It is pretty cool. It’s good to see recognition, but that’s about it,” Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal’s numbers are pretty similar to last season’s, with one big jump in his blocking statistics.
He’s already surpassed last season’s total with 90 total blocks and is averaging 0.86 blocks per set compared to 0.65 a year ago.
More importantly, Rosenthal said his biggest improvement has come in how he handles late-set and late-match situations.
“I think just being calm in the big moments and I think just understanding that I’ve put in the work throughout the last three years and even the years before that,” Rosenthal said. “Just understanding what to do in the big moments has definitely been a big change.”
Rosenthal, who has won 16 Big West Setter of the Week awards, is already sixth on the school’s career assists list and tied for fifth in aces with Parapunov with 114.
He can shatter the school’s career mark of 122 aces set by Thelle and also has a chance to break Kimo Tuyay’s school record with 4,591 assists.
“I know I haven’t done what they’ve did necessarily for this program,” Rosenthal said, specifically referring to Thelle and Parapunov. “But it’s a big step for not only me, but this team, and it’s super cool to be a part of this team.”
Rosenthal said he’s been in frequent contact with Thelle via text since last year.
Head coach Charlie Wade referenced Rosenthal earlier this year as one of those special players that you already begin to miss in his junior season.
Rosenthal agreed it’s hard to believe he’s almost three full years into this four-year run at UH.