Rosenmeier is getting noticed for his on-court play

Never underestimate the power of Rainbow Wahine volleyball as a recruiting tool. That magic has led to many a recruit committing to play for Hawaii, and not just for the women’s program.

It also has impacted the men’s side where the influence currently wears No. 3 for the No. 4 Rainbow Warriors. Just like casting a fishing rod, the lure was the thousands of fans appreciating the sport at the Stan Sheriff Center with Brett Rosenmeier getting hooked and landed from the other side of the country.

“Mostly, at first, it was about the scholarship money, figuring out my best offer,” the Hawaii sophomore outside hitter said of his recruiting process. “It came down to here and Loyola (of Chicago).

“But on my visit, I went to a girls’ match and that changed my mind. Seeing how many fans you get in this gym … there were over 5,000 … and I’m thinking, ‘That could be me playing in front of thousands of fans. Plus I come from a beach area. This felt more like home.”

The popularity personally hit home for the Virginia Beach, Va., native when taking the bus from campus down to Waikiki last season. Rosenmeier was playing sparingly — eventually appearing in 19 of 28 matches with no starts — and was surprised when he was recognized during the ride to the beach.

“It was a Sunday and I was wearing nothing with UH on it, just board shorts and a T-shirt,” Rosenmeier said. “This kid, maybe 12 years old asks if I’m Brett Rosenmeier. When I said yes, he said, ‘That’s so cool. I go to your matches.’

“I now know where he sits. He makes posters for us. But back then it was crazy because I wasn’t playing much. People know who we are and I never expected anything like that.”

However, the Hawaii coaching staff had high expectations for Rosenmeier, expectations that are being realized. He has started five of the past seven matches, including the past four, as the Warriors have upped their winning streak to nine.

Rosenmeier turned in his first double-double in the Feb. 11 sweep at Cal Baptist with what was then career highs of 10 kills and 11 digs. He reset his career-best in kills four days later with 15 in the sweep at Lindenwood (Mo.), the last of the Warriors’ three-state, four-matches-in-six-days road trip.

It’s been his steady, all-around game that has kept him in the lineup.

“He’s one of those blue-collar lunch-pail guys,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “He spent all of last year and now this year just showing up every day, working hard. There never was a word out of him, no ‘Hey, when do I get my shot?’ It’s been work hard, work hard, work hard, and whenever we’ve needed him, he’s gone in and done well.

“He was one of the top guys in his class (2015), top 4-5 at his position, was on the (youth) national team. What I really liked was his platform, he looks comfortable receiving serve, and I liked his overall game.”

Some of that is due to Rosenmeier being an all-around athlete. Besides indoor volleyball, he played in high-level beach tournaments. (“I’d play beach, too, if they had that in college,” he said.)

Some of his ease at serve-receive also is likely due to years of fielding grounders while as a pitcher-third baseman in baseball. Add in a lot of time in the ocean perfecting his skim-boarding skills and it has helped create a mind-set where passing 60 mph-plus serves isn’t so daunting.

“We get that every day in practice,” Rosenmeier said of the heaters served by his teammates. “The competition in the gym makes you better. Our team is so deep that we have really good players who can’t get into our 6-on-6 games because of the really good players ahead of them.

“We are practicing at a higher level sometimes than when we are playing against another team. Doing that every single day can only make us better.”

The Warriors have had this past week to catch up on schoolwork as well as get back into their own gym. Although their record looks impressive at 15-2, they haven’t played a ranked team in nearly three weeks, that being a 3-1 win over No. 11 UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 4, Hawaii’s last home match.

The Warriors see nothing but ranked teams the rest of the way beginning tonight with No. 10 Pepperdine. “It’s a matchup of the two top blocking teams in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and we know we have to bring it,” Rosenmeier said. “We have to step it up for sure.

“The big thing is we have them at home. It’s good to be back with the fans.”

Hawaii, the national leader in attendance from 1995-2011 and in 2015, again is No. 1 at 3,087 to BYU’s 3,086. Last season, the Warriors averaged 3,644, second to the Cougars’ 3,980.

“I heard the stories of when we would sell out,” Rosenmeier said of the eight sellouts in 1996-97. “That would be great if it could happen again.”