Hawaii’s height will be tested by tall Pepperdine squad

The University of Hawaii volleyball team enters a different dimension for its first road volleyball matches of the season.

The Rainbow Warriors will face a tall Pepperdine block and a low Firestone Fieldhouse ceiling in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches tonight and Saturday night.

“It’s always a little more difficult to play there than, say, the Stan Sheriff Center or the Galen Center at USC,” said UH assistant coach Joshua Walker, who is in charge of scouting.

The Warriors played two regular-season matches in Firestone two years ago and defeated the Waves in an exhibition match there in November.

“One of the benefits of the fall trip was getting into some of the venues where guys maybe hadn’t played before,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “We were in there in November. All the guys who hadn’t played in there now have.”

Since then, the Warriors have established a unique rotation. Two opposites who finished the 2015 season on the injury list — Iain McKellar and Hendrik Mol — are now the Warriors’ starting middles. Stijn van Tilburg, a 6-foot-8 freshman, is the Warriors’ most prolific high-ball-hitting opposite since Jonas Umlauft led the nation in kills in 2010 and 2011. The rotation essentially features two ball-handlers on the left side (Siki Zarkovic, Kupono Fey) and three power hitters (van Tilburg, McKellar, Mol). Including setter Jennings Franciskovic, who also can block middle, the rotation has six jump-spin servers.

Wade said he borrowed a philosophy used when he was Rainbow Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji’s associate head coach.

“Coaches always talk about their system,” Wade said. “My system is, ‘Let’s figure out what you’re good at and let’s see if we can put it into the game and get 25 (points) before they do.’ Our training is very much about making everyone a better volleyball player and not necessarily a left-front player or a middle-front player. We spend a lot of time to make sure they are well-rounded and well-skilled.”

Excluding libero Kolby Kanetake, five of the six starters are 6-5 or taller. Off a three-step approach, Franciskovic has a 45-inch vertical jump and can touch 12 feet.

“The real challenge I’m going to have is the first group is so well-rounded — there’s no need for a blocking sub or a serving sub — it’s getting the guys on the bench some quality playing time,” Wade said. “Our bench guys are really good players.”

The immediate challenge is to navigate Pepperdine’s block.

“They’re tall, and they’ve always been a disciplined blocking team,” Walker said. “There won’t always be a chance we’ll have a clean kill to the floor. We have to be able to use the edge of the block. The block will be there. We can’t be afraid. We have to challenge it.”

Wade said the preference would be to quicken the offense, but that tactic relies on the pin hitters’ reading the block.

“We are who we are,” Wade said. “The responsibility shifts back to the hitters. We’ll run fast when we’re able to, but the hitters have to be a little more conscientious. … In our league, everybody puts up a pretty good-sized block in front of you. You just have to pay attention to what’s in front of you.”