Jackson Van Eekeren spent much of his holiday break thinking about two things: volleyball and snow.
The setter couldn’t wait to get back to Hawaii, join his Rainbow Warriors teammates and start practicing for his junior season.
And snow? It was non-existent, a downright balmy 60 degrees while he was home in Naperville, Ill.
Three weeks into the season, Van Eekeren again has two things on his mind: volleyball and snow.
No. 1 Hawaii (5-0) makes its first regular-season trip to the midwest since 2017, with two stops in Illinois this week, both easy drives from where Van Eekeren grew up. He is expecting a couple dozen family and friends to make the 10-mile trek to Romeoville when the Warriors face No. 5 Lewis (3-1) on Friday and a solid core group traveling the 45 miles to Chicago for Saturday’s match at No. 12 Loyola (1-3).
“It’s good to be able to go home and visit the Chicago area with the team,” Van Eekeren said before the team left Tuesday night. “I’m looking forward to show the guys kind of where I grew up.
“I didn’t get to see snow over Christmas. It was unusually warm this year. A lot of the team is not used to the cold. It might be shocking when they encounter that.”
Snow is expected by Friday. The Warriors hope to keep warm with their heater serves that have been consistent and consistently accurate.
Hawaii served at 90% in last week’s three matches of the Raising Cane’s Classic with a combined 19 aces. Many hit 60 mph-plus on the courtside radar.
“When we serve in-bounds, we do very well,” said Van Eekeren, who had two aces in 10 attempts with three errors last week. “Something that sets us apart from other teams is how aggressive we serve while keeping it inbounds. It’s a big advantage for us.”
Hawaii is second nationally to Lewis in total aces, the Warriors with 33 to the Flyers’ 39. All of Hawaii’s aces have come at home in the Stan Sheriff Center, while Lewis had 19 in its two matches in the Neil Carey Arena opening week and 20 last week on the road — 11 in the 3-2 victory at UC Irvine and nine in a sweep of UC San Diego.
Despite using three setters, Hawaii continues to lead the country in hitting percentage and is the only team over .400 (.412). Last season the Warriors hit .435, which broke the NCAA record of .420 and the rally-scoring-era mark of .375.
Large crowds are expected Friday and Saturday thanks, in part, to the Boys Winter Volleyball Championship — an important qualifier for the summer Junior National Championships. Loyola coach Mark Hulse said there may be close to 3,000 in Gentile Arena (capacity 4,963) on Saturday, with many players competing in the nearby tournament coming to watch.
“We were there (at the Winter Championship) last year during our bye week recruiting,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “It was a little bit of the impetus for us going this week. Loyola hosts matches during the (junior) tournament week and for coaches from the west coast, it’s a chance to get more bang for your buck.
“We’re excited about the challenges that this kind of trip brings. It’s early in the season and it gives us some real high-level nonconference matches. We get to play in a couple of gyms that I understand are exciting places to play. I used to live in Chicago, am a fan of their football team. Chicago is a neat place for me.”
Wade didn’t announce who was on the travel roster, only saying that they were traveling 15, leaving six in Honolulu. That’s very different from last week, when he was able to use all 20 of his available players in the sweep of Emmanuel. (Freshman hitter Kahea Kamalani was ill and not in the arena for the match against the Lions).
“Twenty players on an active roster is a lot for men’s volleyball,” Van Eekeren said. “And being able to play all 20 is huge for us. We have a lot of depth and it shows that, if something happens, the next guy is ready to go in.”
Last season Hawaii also set a record for consecutive sets won (74), not dropping a set until its 25th match of the season. This year, the Warriors also have not dropped a set in five matches and did not have a team score more than 19 points in a set until Saturday, when Grand Canyon reached 20 in Set 2 of a 25-15, 25-20, 25-13 loss.
NCAA MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
All times Hawaii
Friday
>> No. 1 Hawaii (5-0) at No. 5 Lewis (3-1), 3 p.m.
Saturday
>> No. 1 Hawaii at No. 12 Loyola (1-3), 3 p.m.
>> TV/Radio: None
>> Online: Friday, glvcsn.com/lewis/ Saturday, ESPN3
>> Series: Hawaii leads Lewis 16-2, leads Loyola 9-2
