But it was hard to say which was the bigger surprise - that UCLA's Stein Metzger was named the conference Player of the Year or that Hawaii's Yuval Katz was not.
Metzger, a senior setter for the No. 3 Bruins, was fifth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in assists (16.19 apg, eighth nationally, and second in service ace average. Hawaii's Erik Pichel, named to the MPSF second team, led the nation in assists with a 19.96 average.
Katz, a sophomore hitter for the top-ranked Rainbows, was the co-leader nationally in kill average, second in the MPSF, and led the conference in service aces. The Israeli national was the league's Freshman of the Year last season and was favored to sweep both the league and national Player of the Year this time around vxxx until yesterday.
"I was definitely shocked," Metzger, a former Punahou standout, said in a phone call last night from Los Angeles. "I have not been mentioned all season as an MVP, not when there are players out there like Yuval Katz and Tom Hoff (of Long Beach State).
"I never expected to be equated with players such as Jeff Nygaard and Mike Sealy (UCLA MVP winners in 1994-95 and 1993, respectively). It feels good but I was surprised."
Katz was unfazed by the news at yesterday's practice. His focus is getting past Pepperdine in Saturday's first-round match in search of a national championship.
"I don't think about such things,"Katz said. "It doesn't bother me. But I thought for sure Pichel would make it (first team)."
Katz was the only Hawaii player named to the first team. Pichel, setting the 25-1 Rainbows to their No. 1 ranking all season and a 19-0 MPSF record, was named to the second team, as was junior hitter Aaron Wilton.
Hawaii sophomore hitter Naveh Milo was picked to the third team. Snubbed completely from even honorable mention were sophomore blocker Sivan Leoni, fifth in conference hitting and eighth in blocking, and sophomore blocker Rick Tune, a part-time starter who led the MPSF in hitting percentage.
Coach of the Year honors went to Pacific's Joe Wortmann, who took the perennial cellar dwellers to a first-ever playoff berth this year. Brigham Young's Ryan Millar was named Freshman of the Year.
"There's a lot of anti-foreign sentiment among some of the coaches in our league," said Hawaii assistant coach Tino Reyes. "Remarks like we're the University of Tel Aviv at Hawaii. It's surprising because these other teams have had foreign players for years.
"Yuvi is clearly the best player in the country. He knows it. Everyone in Hawaii knows it. It doesn't matter to us (coaches) but we're disappointed for the players."