Outside hitter Austin Matautia has left the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team and will transfer to UCLA.

By requesting — and receiving — a release from his scholarship, Matautia is eligible to play next season without redshirting.

Matautia, who started 21 matches during his two-season UH career, said his decision was not based on playing time. Matautia said he was “comfortable” in the program, but was looking for a new situation where he would be “uncomfortable.”

“I just think Hawaii is and always will be home,” said Matautia, a 2016 Moanalua graduate. “You’re only a Division I athlete once. I think going away will open my eyes to a whole new perspective of life.”

This past season, All-American Stijn van Tilburg started at one of the left-side positions, and Matautia and Brett Rosenmeier split time at the other. Entering the final weekend of the regular season, Matautia had 246 attacks to Rosenmeier’s 228. But Rosenmeier, a consistently accurate passer, started the final four matches, including the loss to Long Beach State in the Big West tournament championship.

A few days after the final match, Matautia was granted his request for a scholarship release.

“He’s a good player, and I’m sure he’ll help (UCLA),” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “It’s disappointing when they leave. We bring these guys here to graduate. When that doesn’t happen, we’re disappointed.”

Wade said talented players, “especially talented local players, we always want those kind of guys around. At the end of the day, it wasn’t what (Matautia) was looking for.”

After securing a release, Matautia said, “I’ve been talking to pretty much every school in the country trying to figure out what school would be the best fit for me and my family.”

Until 2017, UH and UCLA were both men’s volleyball members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The past year, UH competed in the Big West.

At Moanalua, Matautia was a prolific outside hitter who was named to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Fab 15 All-State team four times. He also was selected to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association/Enterprise Hall of Honor in 2016.

Matautia played in 51 matches during his UH career.

He did not participate in last fall’s training while undergoing treatment for his leg. In 2018, he led the Warriors with 24 aces. He hit .349, ranking fourth among Big West attackers.

“We don’t like to see good players leave,” Wade said. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got to want to be here. It’s not like he never played. Going into the last weekend (of the regular season), he played a lot. If it’s not about playing time, and it’s about something else, that’s OK.”