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It’s a bit of chess out there on the board known as the volleyball court, and the redshirt freshman setter for the top-ranked Hawaii volleyball team has — so far — been making the right moves.
Faking out the opponents’ middle blocker to free up his outside hitter for a 1-on-none swing? Check.
Set left, set right then run his middle attacker when least expected? The ultimate checkmate.
“Setting is what I’ve known my whole life,” said Brett Sheward as the Warriors (14-0) prepared for tonight’s first of two nonconference matches with No. 2 Brigham Young (16-0). “I enjoy running the offense especially when you have good players around you playing for each other.
“Yes, it is a lot of responsibility, but it’s not hard. You stay focused on the game. I know my team has my back and we continue to build that trust.”
The shortest of the three Warrior setters at 6 feet 2 came up big when coming off the bench in the two January road matches at Lewis and Loyola. In both contests, Hawaii dropped Set 1 before rallying to win in four.
Against Loyola, “Shewie” started Set 2. The Warriors have not dropped a set since, running off a string of seven straight sweeps matching Sheward’s number of starts.
Hawaii, which destroyed the NCAA record for hitting efficiency in 2019 with a .435, leads the country this season at .386. In Sheward’s seven starts, the Warriors have hit .399 and, if Sheward had enough sets to qualify in the national rankings, he would be at No. 6 with a 10.46 per set average.
“He’s been the ‘Steady Eddie’ guy for us, not super flashy but he’s been efficient,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “He’s been playing at a high level for a long time.”
“He’s not a big rah-rah guy. The guys respect him. He has a lot of credibility.”
And the business major has an impressive pedigree to ice his resume. Both father Sean and uncle Drew — the 1988 Los Angeles Times High School Player of the Year at Newport Harbor (Calif.) High — were setters at USC.
Sean and Drew continue to play at the senior national level, with a gold in 2018 and silver in 2019 in the 45-over age group at the USA Volleyball Championships. Grandfather Terry won the gold in the 70-over division for Quiksilver Legends last year, a team that included Jon Stanley, the father of current BYU players Wil and Jon, and former Warrior Clay.
“We’re a big volleyball family and I wanted to keep it going,” said Brett Sheward, previously in the USAV High Performance programs for both indoor and beach. “I love playing on the beach with them.
“I didn’t go to SC, they had a lot of setters at the time. With Joe (Worsley) graduating, there was an opportunity to come here and I took it.”
As they do this year, the Warriors had three setters on the active roster in 2019. Both then-freshman Jakob Thelle (6-6) and then-sophomore Jackson Van Eekeran (6-6) backed up senior All-American Worsley while Sheward redshirted and practiced as a setter and potential libero.
“I got to learn a lot from Joe, watching him play,” said Sheward, the CIF Division 2 Player of the Year as a senior at Orange (Calif.) Lutheran. “And there’s a battle every day in practice with Jakob and Jackson. They’re both really good servers and blockers, and good at high-ball setting.
“We learn from each other, talking during the match and after. The best thing about this team is getting to be with the guys and going hard every day.”
“Brett is amazing,” senior opposite Rado Parapunov said. “Joe (Worsley) was at another level, but ‘Shewey’ is at his own level. He’s very dedicated to the sport and everything that we’re doing.
“He has amazing leadership quality even though it’s his first season as the setter. He’s in charge of the whole team. That kid is ready to give everything he has to help us do our best.”
It’s what will be required tonight and the rest of the season if the Warriors are to meet their goals of winning the Big West and NCAA championship.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Sheward said. “BYU is going to be fun for sure. They’re playing really well this year. High-powered offense, good serving team.
“We need to be ready to go and keep it going.”
MEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL
At Stan Sheriff Center
>> Who: No. 2 Brigham Young (16-0, 6-0 MPSF) at No. 1 Hawaii (14-0, 0-0 Big West)
>> When: Today and Friday, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Series: BYU leads 41-21
FEW TICKETS REMAIN
Some 3,800 tickets remain for today’s match between No. 1 Hawaii (14-0) and No. 2 Brigham Young (16-0) at the 10,300-seat Stan Sheriff Center.
Friday’s match is close to a sellout with about 700 tickets left. If it sells out, it would be the first of this season, third in the past 13 home matches dating to last year, and 11th for the program going back to 1995, the Warriors’ first in the arena.
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