Former University of Hawai'i men's volleyball players Taylor Averill, Stijn van Tilburg, and Rado Parapunov made their respective country's rosters for the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Nations League (VNL), which runs May 28-June 27 in Rimini, Italy.
 
Averill is one of 19 players listed on Team USA, which was announced earlier this week. Van Tilburg will compete for the Netherlands while Parapunov, who just completed his UH eligibility, is on the Bulgarian roster.
 
Averill has the most experience among the group, having competed in the 2018 FIVB World Championship squad that finished in third place. He also participated in preliminary round matches of the 2018 and 2019 VNL. The San Jose, Calif., native was a two-time first-team All-American for the Warriors and recipient of UH's Jack Bonham Award as the school's outstanding male student-athlete.
 
Van Tilburg was a three-time All-American who helped UH to a national runner-up finish and the program's first-ever conference tournament title, both in 2019. The Amsterdam native became just the second UH player to earn AVCA first-team honors three times and finished his career in the Top 10 in kills (7th, 1,410) and kill attempts (6th, 2,840).
 
Parapunov led the Warriors to their first national title earlier this month while becoming just the third player in program history to earn AVCA Player of the Year honors. The Sofia, Bulgaria native was also a three-time first-team All-American and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
 
The 2021 VNL will consist of 16 teams who will compete in three-day round-robin segments during the preliminary round. The top four teams will advance to the final round in which the semifinals are scheduled for June 26 and the medal matches on June 27.