University of Hawaii men’s volleyball preview: Freshman class loaded with players all around the board

The freshman class will be playing a version of “Knockout,” aiming to knock someone out of the starting lineup.

It likely won’t happen at libero, where the 5-foot-7 ‘Eleu Choy (Farrington) and 5-8 Shea Suzumoto (Punahou) have the daunting task of trying to unseat junior All-American Gage Worsley.

It is a large freshman contingent, but as coach Charlie Wade likes to say, one can never have too many good players.

Of the nine — five redshirt freshmen and four true first-year players — four are from California, three from Hawaii and two are international.

The lone true freshman from California is 6-3 hitter Chaz Galloway, a 2019 graduate of Del Norte High in San Diego. In their second season in the program are 6-2 setter Brett Sheward, a redshirt out of Orange Lutheran in Newport Beach; 6-6 hitter Devon Johnson, who prepped at Westlake Village High, and 6-6 middle Danny Wong from Homestead High in Campbell.

Sheward is one of three setters vying to replace the graduated Joe Worsley, and the only one without actual game experience. (The others are redshirt junior Jackson Van Eekeren and sophomore Jakob Thelle, who both saw action in 2019).

Galloway, whose athleticism and “hops” are reminiscent of current senior Colton Cowell, has a large depth chart to overcome.

True freshman Kahea Kamalani (Kaiser), a 6-4 hitter, joins local redshirts Cole Hogland (6-4, ‘Iolani) and Alaka’i Todd (6-8, Punahou).

Dimitrios Mouchlias, a 6-6 opposite from Greece, and 6-7 middle Guilherme Voss from Brazil should continue the success of international players for the Warriors. Think Yuval Katz (Israel), Costas Theocharidis (Greece) and Stijn van Tilburg (Sweden) to name a few.