In the chaos of practice, in the chaos of matches, in the chaos that was a record-setting whirlwind of a season, Charlie Wade could always look down at his clipboard and become immediately focused on what was most important.
ETG.
Enjoy This Group.
“When you get into the grind of the season, you forget to enjoy it,” the Hawaii men’s volleyball coach said after his 10th season ended with a national runner-up finish. “As the season unfolded, it took on a life of its own.
“It’s pretty remarkable what this group did over a long period of time. The set streak, being the most efficient (hitting) team ever. There was a lot of great stuff that made it fun because of this obvious special group of guys.”
It went beyond the benchmarks that the Rainbow Warriors put up, as numerous as they were impressive. Hawaii (28-3) had a program-best 25-match winning streak as well as set the mark for most victories in a single season.
Along the way, Hawaii:
>> Destroyed the NCAA record for men’s volleyball with 74 consecutive sets won, besting the 32 that the Warriors shared with Long Beach State;
>> Obliterated the NCAA records for hitting percentage with a .435; the 49ers hit .375 last season for the 25-point rally-score-era mark, UCLA hit .420 in 1993 for the all-time mark;
>> Led the country in five statistical categories (hitting percentage, opponent’s hitting percentage and kills, assists and blocks per set;
>> Had a program-best four first-team All-Americans and five first-team All-Big West picks;
>> And the senior class of Brett Rosenmeier, Dalton Solbrig, Stijn van Tilburg and Joe Worsley had the most victories (90) of any four-year group.
All that aside, what the Warriors will remember the most about 2019 is how a state once again embraced their program at a level not seen since their first three seasons in the Stan Sheriff Center (1995-97). There were eight sellouts during that time with a national attendance record of 7,930 in 1997, a mark that still stands.
The seniors made it part of their mission to make it happen at least once in their careers. They got two, one on their senior night and the second in the Big West tournament title match with Long Beach State.
The Warriors credit that latter one for their five-set victory over the 49ers, a match Hawaii led 2-0 that the Beach came back to even it at 2-2.
Instead of “Oh, no, not again” — the Warriors had 2-1 leads the previous week at the Walter Pyramid only to lose both in five — it became, “Oh, no, not this time.” The 15-8 Set 5 victory gave Hawaii its first conference tournament title, first automatic bid into the NCAA tourney and, as the Warriors found out the next morning, the first No. 1 seed.
The euphoria continued for nearly two weeks as fans scrambled to get plane and match tickets for the 50th NCAA men’s volleyball championship at the Walter Pyramid. As junior hitter James Anastassiades said after the Warriors advanced to the title match, “To be one of only 100 teams to make it this far is an amazing honor.”
The only two teams to be ranked No. 1 during the season made it to the title match, where the 49ers took advantage of their home court, winning their 43rd straight inside the Pyramid, defending their title, and leading Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe to say that in many other seasons, Hawaii would have won it all.
Just as it was little solace to Alydar to be named the second-greatest race horse of 1978 behind Triple Crown winner Affirmed, it didn’t ease the Warriors’ pain of coming so close to adding an NCAA banner to their Big West one.
What the senior class did was continue the legacy of the 2017 class that finished third nationally. A number of the returning players were back in the weight room the Monday after coming back from the NCAA tournament.
“We’re confident that the success we’re having is sustainable,” Wade said. “We were good yesterday, we are good today, we’ll be good tomorrow and in the foreseeable future.
“We return a pretty solid core group who we feel knows what it takes to be successful. Sure, it will be different guys playing, but they have the same goal. They are talented, dedicated and focused, just like this special group was.”
Scrutiny followed coach Wade
It wasn’t all rainbows and volleyball. Days after the emotional victory over the 49ers, news broke that Wade had been under investigation for alleged misconduct involving a female player during his club coaching days some 30 years ago. It triggered an automatic interim membership suspension by USA Volleyball through the U.S. Center for SafeSport, but it did not apply to NCAA events.
It did, however, affect the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s postseason coaching awards. The AVCA announced it would delay its announcement pending the conclusion of the SafeSport investigation, leading most to believe that Wade had been named coach of the year and, possibly, Josh Walker the assistant of the year.
The allegation again surfaced at the NCAA tournament, first during a press conference where Wade was asked about it. (The NCAA moderator cut the interview session short when a followup question strayed from the moderator’s mandate to stick to volleyball).
It then was brought up by ESPN2 broadcasters during the final between Hawaii and Long Beach State. Wade said he had been told earlier by one of the broadcasters that it would not be part of the telecast.
Wade declined to comment on the matter other than to say he had heard nothing from SafeSport since last year when first contacted. The USAV website lists Wade’s start date of suspension as Sept. 5, 2018, that it was pending the SafeSport investigation but did not list what rule or code had been violated.
