Things will be different this men’s volleyball season, not just for Hawaii but for the rest of the country.
The Big West is sponsoring the sport for the first time, splitting from what has been called the “megadeath conference” known as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The six-team Big West will have a postseason tournament in April — hosted by Long Beach State in 2018 and Hawaii in 2019 — with the winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
The Rainbow Warriors officially start that journey Thursday with the first of a couple of double days in Gym I. Hawaii, preseason No. 5 in the AVCA Top 15, will be searching for an identity as well as replacements for three starters who led the Warriors to a 27-6 record and third-place finish in the NCAA tournament last May.
“Overall, I’m cautiously optimistic,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said, starting his ninth season in Manoa. “We have good players, some who have already established themselves, but we also realize there’s a lot of work to be done.
“The guys we lost were not just good volleyball players statistically. They were significant with their presence and leadership. That group played a lot of volleyball for us for four years. We recognize that we could be really good, could be in the mix in the end (for a national title) but there is a lot of work to be done.”
All three of the departed senior starters are playing professionally, setter Jennings Franciskovic and hitter Kupono Fey in Italy, and middle Hendrik Mol in his native Norway where he is playing indoor while waiting on the beach season to start.
While the Warriors return three other starters among their 11 letter winners, there likely will be position changes for two of them. Junior All-American opposite Stijn van Tilburg looks to be moving to the left side, which will put sophomore Rado Parapunov on the right, and senior All-American libero Tui Tuileta appears to be headed back to the outside, giving way to highly regarded freshman Gage Worsley, the younger brother of junior setter Joe.
Joe Worsley, who pushed Franciskovic the past two seasons, will run the team this year. The Warriors have a ton of options when looking to fill the spots vacated by Fey and Mol. Hitter options include two who saw significant time last season in junior Brett Rosenmeier and sophomore Austin Matautia, while in the mix in the middle along with returning starter Patrick Gasman are junior Dalton Solbrig and redshirt freshman Isaac Liva.
Thursday also marks another change for the Warriors. Hawaii has gone off-campus for preseason camp — neighbor islands, Pearl Harbor, Camp Erdman — but will stay on the lower campus to eat, sleep and breathe volleyball.
“Logistically it is better,” Wade said. “We’ll have all our meals, practices and weights all right there. It will be fun.”
Hawaii opens with the inaugural Texaco Classic next week, playing Stevens Institute of Technology on Thursday, Juniata on Friday and USC on Saturday. USC and Juniata open the three-day tournament with Thursday’s 4 p.m. match followed by SIT-Hawaii at 7.
