Tread Rosenthal, a freshman setter at the University of Hawai’i, has been honored as the Big West Freshman of the Year by the conference’s six head coaches.
This accolade continues a five-year streak where a player from the Rainbow Warriors has received one of the Big West’s significant awards. The previous four years saw UH athletes capturing the Player of the Year title, with Jakob Thelle securing it for 2022-23 and Rado Parapunov in the 2020-21 season.
Rosenthal, originally from Manhattan Beach, California, is the first from UH to claim the conference’s freshman accolade. Earlier, Rainbow Warriors had won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Freshman of the Year three times, with awards going to Yuval Katz (1995), Kimo Tuyay (2001), and Jonas Umlauft (2010).
During his inaugural collegiate season, Rosenthal earned the Big West freshman of the week honor six times, a record for the conference, and was a starter in all 30 matches. He led his team with an impressive season average of 10.08 assists per set and a team hitting efficiency of .350. Additionally, he topped the charts with 41 service aces and averages of 1.50 digs, 0.77 blocks, and 0.60 kills per set.
Besides his recent accolades as a first-team all-conference player and a member of the all-freshman team, Rosenthal is in contention for the AVCA Newcomer of the Year.
This year’s Big West Player of the Year went to Hilir Henno from UC Irvine, while Long Beach State’s Alan Knipe was named Coach of the Year.