Gasman eager to get back into the game

There’s a libero inside every middle blocker, one who wants to showcase his all-around skills and prove that “bigs” can play defense in the back row as well as at the net.

Such is the mind-set for Hawaii middle Patrick Gasman, who began his volleyball career as a 10-year-old libero playing on a 16-and-under club team in Clovis, Calif.

“I played that for two years, and I was decent,” the Rainbow Warriors redshirt freshman said. “Then I grew.”

Some nine years and 22 inches later, Gasman is ready to grow into the dominating force that his coaches and teammates saw in fall camp of 2015. Up until Oct. 16 to be exact.

That’s when Gasman — a manapua shy of his listed 6-foot-10 — broke his right fibula in a skateboarding accident on the way to a morning workout.

“I hit a rock, the board stopped, I kept going,” said Gasman, who also tore a ligament in the process.

The AVCA high school All-American got a measure of revenge last summer. The day he was cleared to practice again. Gasman took a sledgehammer to the offending board, broke it into two pieces and created a memento that now sits atop his locker.

It’s a daily reminder of how much he missed playing and how much he wanted to get back onto the court.

A year after being projected to be one of Hawaii’s starting middles, Gasman finally makes his debut tonight against Erskine in the second match of the 23rd Outrigger Resorts Invitational.

“I’m extremely excited,” said Gasman, who helped the U.S. Youth National Team take gold at the 2014 NORCECA U19 Continental Championship. “It was very frustrating having to watch practices and then the (in-season) matches.

“The best part of Warrior volleyball is the support from the community. I was up on the North Shore with my team and people would come up and say, ‘You’re Patrick Gasman.’ It was weird because I didn’t even touch the court last year. “

The mystique of the Stan Sheriff Center was part of the selling point. Gasman had heard stories of the soldout crowds of the 1990s and was pleasantly surprised when over 3,000 showed up nightly last season, including 5,400 against UCLA.

“I think we maybe had 12 people at our high school matches,” the Buchanan High graduate said.

Add the opportunity for playing time with the graduation of middles Taylor Averill and Davis Holt, as well as knowing many of the Warriors from club, national and international play, made it an easy decision for Gasman.

And it made it harder when he got hurt.

“He was clearly the best middle we had,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “And there was some concern when he was a little slow coming back. He wasn’t fully cleared (to play) until the week we played UC Irvine (Oct. 28).

“But he’s made great progress, has been the best statistically at his position, has the highest hitting percentage, the most blocks, has served really well.

“He brings a dimension that we didn’t have last year and that is size. We’ll be seeing teams with near 7-foot middles and you have to be able to match that. You need the length there. He’s got a good shot to be a four-year starter for us and a dominant player in the league. It’s great to have him back.”

“It sucked to see him go down last year,” added senior setter Jennings Franciskovic. “Right off the bat you could tell he was something special.

“It took him a while to work himself back to where he was, but he’s close to 100 percent. I’m excited to see him finally get to play.”

Gasman epitomizes the Warriors’ student-athlete focus, with a high court IQ matched in the classroom. Hawaii’s team GPA is a 3.39; Gasman has a 3.4.

The mechanical engineering major is thinking about a career as a Disney Imagineer. He can get a jumpstart on that when the college career he imagined finally becomes a reality.

And that includes playing in the back row, something that will happen as long as he holds serve. (Middle blockers are replaced by the libero after the serving stint is done).

“I love playing back row,” Gasman said. “I’ll do my best to fly after every ball so I can keep serving.”

Note: Redshirt sophomore Larry “Tui” Tuileta, scheduled to start at libero tonight against Erskine, will miss Saturday’s match against Ball State to attend his sister Kylee’s wedding. He will be performing a fire knife dance at the reception.