Hawaii has wrapped itself in the security blanket known as the Stan Sheriff Center while winning its last 25 volleyball matches at home. That changes this week, with the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors (12-0) venturing out on their second road trip of the season, heading to No. 12 Stanford (5-5).
Still, there’s a homecoming feeling surrounding the journey to “The Farm” in Northern California, as several Warriors are from the surrounding area, including senior middle Patrick Gasman (Clovis) and freshman middle Danny Wong (Campbell).
No one, however, will feel more at home in Maples Pavilion on Friday than junior libero Gage Worsley. He spent hours in the 7,322-seat arena as a ballboy for the Cardinal, peppering with older brother Joe (Hawaii’s graduated All-American setter) while father Roger was on the coaching staff, and celebrating the 2010 NCAA championship, which Stanford won at home.
Gage Worsley has never played in Maples — nor in Saturday’s match site, the 1,436-seat Burnham Pavilion — and “I’m super excited for playing for the first time,” he said. “These are big games for sure and Stanford just had a huge win over UCLA.
“We’ll be ready. And we’re expecting a good amount of people to come.”
Hawaii has won its last four against Stanford, including two sweeps in Honolulu last season. The Cardinal have dominated when hosting, also winning four straight and 10 of the last 11 dating back to 2008.
Stanford snapped a four-match losing streak Saturday, sweeping UCLA 25-17, 25-19, 25-17. The Cardinal also celebrated the 10th anniversary of the NCAA title.
“We’re looking forward to another challenge,” said Warriors coach Charlie Wade, seven wins shy of 200 career victories in Manoa. “Stanford’s always been good. They played really well this past week and seem to be kind of hitting their stride. It should be a real challenge for us.”
The challenge may be who is the tougher team to scout: Hawaii, which has used all 20 on its active roster, including three setters, or Stanford, whose injuries to both setters have pressed freshman libero Justin Lui into setting duties the past four matches, with junior hitter JP Reilly moving to libero.
The Warriors started the same lineup in two of last week’s Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Invitational matches, with four making the all-tournament team: Worsley, Gasman, senior opposite Rado Parapunov and senior hitter Colton Cowell. Cowell was named the Most Outstanding Player and, on Monday, Parapunov earned his ninth career Big West Player of the Week award.
“It just shows our team depth, how we can plug in guys,” Worsley said. “It’s crazy to think that all 20 have played and all have contributed.”
If there was any complaint about Saturday’s sweep of then-No. 4 UC Irvine, it was the hiccup at the end of Set 3. The Warriors needed five swings at ending it, seeing a 24-15 lead dwindle to 24-20, with the Anteaters coming up with four consecutive blocks before Parapunov ended it with his 14th kill.
Gasman was on the sideline during UCI’s late charge and “I’m just telling them, ‘Just keep doing what we’ve been doing all season.’
“We know we can play sharper. And I know that Josh (assistant coach Walker, who is in charge of scouting) will do his job off the court so we can do ours on the court.
“I’ve never played at Stanford and I’ve got quite a few fans coming. I’ll have my family, my Pacific Rim (club) family, high school friends … I imagine we’ll have quite the crowd.”
Note
Saturday’s match was moved to Burnham to accommodate the Stanford-Arizona men’s basketball game. First serve also is an hour earlier than Friday. It is just the second match in Burnham for the Cardinal and first since the Jan. 3 season-opener against Menlo.
MEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL
At Stanford, Calif.
No. 1 Hawaii (12-0) at No. 12 Stanford (5-5)
>> When: Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m.
>> TV: None
>> Radio: 1500-AM
>> Online video: gostanford.com
>> Series: Hawaii leads, 43-38
