“Protect this house.”
The Hawaii men’s volleyball team begins to implement its mantra this week against defending Canadian national champion British Columbia in exhibition matches at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Thunderbirds offer an international style — big, physical and technically sound — that is expected to challenge the Rainbow Warriors in ways similar to what they experienced in their weeklong training trip to Japan in November.
“What we learned was how to play without a bunch of scouting reports,” Hawaii All-American senior outside hitter Stijn van Tilburg said. “It’s just straight-up play, playing our own game and adjusting our play.
“We have no idea what to expect from them. From our guys, we’re excited to be back on the court. Hoping everyone comes out with a lot of energy and some controlled angriness from the way last season ended.”
The Warriors’ plan is to channel the anger from being overlooked for an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament and turn it into a positive. That means cutting down on unforced errors and control what they can control on the court — winning — and not leave their postseason fate in the hands of a selection committee.
First up: UBC (6-14), which is 0-8 in away matches but has won its past two. The T-Birds defeated Sungkyunkwan (Seoul) twice, 3-0 Sunday in the Thompson Rivers McDonald’s Classic and 3-1 Monday at home in Vancouver.
“We’re expecting them to be a typical Canadian team, big and physical,” Hawaii senior setter Joe Worsley said. “They have a history of being very competitive in their league (Canada West) and we’re expecting a physical game.”
Hawaii’s offense also is expecting to implement some wrinkles that the Warriors picked up in Japan.
“The Japanese play a very different style and we want to incorporate that into our offense,” Worsley said. “We’ve changed a couple of things we do in lining up (after serve-receive), using different combinations, some of the attack patterns they showed us.
“The point is to form imbalance in the other team’s defense. The style is fun to watch and I think fans will enjoy watching that style of play. Hopefully, that will be a piece to our game that will put us above other teams.”
Hawaii returns most of its starting lineup from last year’s team that went 19-8, finishing tied for second in the Big West regular season, and runner-up to eventual national champion Long Beach State in the inaugural conference tournament. The biggest piece that will need to be replaced is at libero, where sophomore Gage Worsley is scheduled to replace Tui Tuileta.
The Warriors are deep but young at several positions. Hawaii had two players transfer to UCLA: junior hitter Austin Matautia and junior opposite Brandon Rattray started on Wednesday in the Bruins’ season-opener against Princeton.
The Warriors, ranked third in the national preseason coaches poll, open the regular season next Thursday with the Hawaiian Airlines Classic. The field includes NJIT, Concordia-Irvine and USC.
MEN’S EXHIBITION COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL
Stan Sheriff Center
>> Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m.
>> British Columbia (6-14) at No. 3 Hawaii (0-0)
>> TV: None.
>> Radio: 1420-AM (Friday), 1500-AM (Saturday)
>> Audio webcast: espn1420am.com (Friday), TBA (Saturday)
