COLUMBUS, Ohio >> Welcome back, Hendrik Mol.

The senior middle, Hawaii’s stoic but emotional leader, participated in practice on Wednesday at St. John Arena. It was his first since going down with a right ankle sprain at Long Beach State on April 22, 11 very long days ago.

Immediate impact? Try a near no-look, left-arm block of his replacement in Tuesday’s play-in victory over Penn State, sophomore Dalton Solbrig.

“Roof” never sounded so good.

“It feels a lot better,” said Mol, who rode the stationary bike court side when not taking limited reps in the front row and service line. “It’s a huge improvement over yesterday.

“I’d say I’m 75 percent right now. I owe a lot to our trainer (Renae Shigemura). We’ve spent a lot of time the last 10 days.”

As for the Solbrig’s block, “You get lucky some times,” Mol said.

Fourth-seeded Hawaii knows it will need more than luck if it hopes to upset defending national champion and host Ohio State in today’s second semifinal of the NCAA men’s volleyball national championship tournament. But having Mol back, in any capacity, is a huge morale boost for the Rainbow Warriors.

“It’s awesome to have him out there, he’s been working really hard to get back on the court,” Hawaii senior setter Jennings Franciskovic said. “Mentally he is there but he’s been pulling back because of the ankle.

“To see him bounce the ball (when hitting) like it was nothing was really good to see. It feels like something’s been missing when he’s not there. To have him back today was big for morale. Regardless if he can play, that will help us out.”

Mol leads the team with 26 aces, part of the Warriors’ lethal weapons that concern opponents. The Buckeyes are no different.

“Hendrik can do a lot of things with his serve,” Ohio State coach Pete Hanson said. “It’s an element that Hawaii was missing last night. He’s an experienced player and you can’t put a quantitative figure on that.

“I’m guessing if he (starts) it will give them a lift out of the gate. The question is if he can continue to play at a high level.”

Ohio State, with a bye on Tuesday, sat back and watched Hawaii grind out a five-set win over Penn State, a victory the Warriors won going away.

“The main observation is how emotional they are,” Buckeye senior libero Gabe Domecus said of the Warriors. “Think they got down the first couple of sets against Penn State but a team like that can get on a hot streak. The last set (15-4 in Set 5) is a testament as to how hot they can be.

“Big factor for us to win will be handling our emotions while counteracting their emotions. I think the emotions playing in front of our fans will be pretty similar to what Hawaii had. It will be high energy in the gym the whole time.”

Ohio State has been very steady at home, going 19-1 with the lone loss a sweep by UC Irvine on March 11. The Buckeyes were also pushed in the April 19 MIVA semifinal against Ball State, having to rally from down 7-2 in Set 5 to pull it out 15-13.

Ohio State knows it has gone from being the hunter to being the hunted all season long.

“I think there’s a difference when you’re chasing the goal, that if you stumble, people expect that,” Hanson said. “But once you’ve gotten it (the title) and you stumble, then people want to know what’s wrong.

“We lose to Irvine 3-0 and it’s ‘they must be falling apart.’ Give credit to Irvine. It’s athletics and they were the better team that night. It’s a tough mind-set for our guys to understand that teams will bring their ‘A’ game every night against you.

“We know we’ve got a great challenge ahead of us in Hawaii. They’ll be ready to go.”

There is no doubt that Warrior senior hitter Kupono Fey will be ready. The co-captain struggled against the Nittany Lions on Tuesday and was replaced by freshman Austin Matautia midway through Set 2.

“You just have to forget it and move on basically,” Fey said of Tuesday’s performance. “We have a great team and it was a great team win last night. So excited that we’re advancing and looking forward to playing Ohio State.

“(Austin) played really well, hats off to him, he came in and steadied us out, especially with that last serving run.”

Matautia served the final seven points of Set 5, a run that included three kills by sophomore hitter Brett Rosenmeier and two of the team’s 17.5 blocks. Matautia finished with seven kills on nine swings with no errors.

“I coached Austin a couple of summers ago,” Hanson said of Matautia’s USA Volleyball experience. “He’s a good player and a quiet young man.

“It’s a tough situation for a freshman to go in and try to pick up his team, carry them on his back. He found a good rhythm and helped them turn it around.”

Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said there was a lot to be concerned with when facing the Buckeyes.

“They’re big and athletic, big arms, well coached,” Wade said. “They’ve played together a long time. Our lineup has fluctuated during the year and they’ve pretty much played the same guys every single night.

“They play efficient volleyball and we’ll have our hands full. You can compare them to UCLA. Really athletic, puts service pressure on you. That’s something we’ve responded to well but it will be a big challenge for sure.”

The Buckeyes have a school-record five players earn All-America recognition on Monday, led by first-teamers Miles Johnson, a senior opposite, and junior hitter Nicolas Szerszen, last season’s AVCA national player of the year.

The two were among those receiving their awards at Wednesday night’s AVCA All-American banquet, along with Hawaii first-teamers Franciskovic and sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg, second-team pick libero Tui Tuileta and Mol, an honorable mention.

Second-seeded Long Beach State took two top awards in sophomore hitter TJ DeFalco (player of year and Alan Knipe (coach of year).