Heat and hops.
And lots of options.
That’s what Hawaii showed in Friday night’s exhibition volleyball match against UC Irvine.
The Rainbow Warriors threw a mixture of veterans and rookies, as well as a number of lineups, at the undermanned Anteaters with fairly consistent success. An estimated crowd of 1,500 at the Stan Sheriff Center saw sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg put down 14 kills over the last two sets and freshman opposite Rado Parapunov debuted with 10 kills in playing the first two in the 25-20, 24-26, 25-21, 25-15 victory.
It’s early, but it was obvious that depth and athleticism will be Hawaii’s strength this season.
“Every guy can make an argument for being out there. And that’s what you want,” said Warriors coach Charlie Wade, who used 14 players. “That’s what practice looks like every day. It’s a war.
“We had a lot of guys get in and for the most part, had pretty good performances across the board, The connection with the middles is not where we wanted it to be, but it’s the end of the second week and we’re happy.”
Perhaps happiest of all was redshirt freshman Pat Gasman, who missed last season after breaking his ankle. The 6-foot-8 middle had four kills and was in on two blocks, including the match-ender when he stuffed UCI’s 7-foot freshman middle, Scott Stadick.
“My first time putting on the jersey in the Stan Sheriff Center … it was magical,” Gasman said. “We’ve got a very strong team and right now every position is up for grabs, except for Kupono (senior hitter Fey) and Hendrik (senior middle Mol).”
Mol was the only Warrior to play all four sets, finishing with six kills, one of the team’s seven aces, and five blocks. His solo stuff of Stadick helped Hawaii pull away at 17-13 in Set 1.
“We brought the fire tonight, a lot of energy,” Mol said. “Stijn and Rado battling every day, fun to see who comes out on top. We almost shocked ourselves with the defense. It was a good thing.”
Hawaii outdug UCI 43-31, with sophomore setter Joe Worsley coming up with 10. The highlight, however, came from Parapunov in Set 2 when the Bulgarian national used a legal soccer kick to keep the play alive.
To be fair, the Anteaters did not have a true setter to run the offense and it showed. Junior hitter Aaron Koubi was pressed into setting duties with senior setter Michael Saeta out and two other setters not cleared to play.
UCI got 14 kills from senior opposite Tamir Hershko and nine from sophomore opposite Karl Apfelbach.
The Anteaters won the block war 10.5-8.5, led by Stadick’s five.
Hawaii was poised to take Set 2 , with a 24-23 lead on Worsley’s ace. But Hershko put down his eighth kill and Apfelback closed it out with two straight.
Hawaii concludes its fall season on Nov. 16 with an exhibition against SportConX.
The Warriors open the regular season with the 23rd Outrigger Resorts Invitational on Jan. 5-7, with a field that includes Ball State, Princeton and Erskine.
