Chaz Galloway knew he needed to give more than passing attention to his receiving skills during an extended offseason.
In his abbreviated true freshman season, the high-flying Hawaii outside hitter had demonstrated his potential as a finisher. In preparing for his second year in the program, Galloway concentrated on his touch in initiating the attack for the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors.
“I put a lot of work into that because I knew that was what was probably going to get me on the court, or at least keep me on the court, was my serve receive,” Galloway said.
“So that’s what I focused on mainly during quarantine and coming back into the gym because I just wanted to have that skill down. I don’t want to have to worry about that, so if I had to go attack against a bigger block I don’t have to worry about passing and so I worked extremely hard on that.”
UH junior libero Gage Worsley and senior outside hitter Colton Cowell continue to serve as UH’s primary passers in triggering the nation’s most efficient attack. Worsley has handled 329 serves with 12 errors this season while Cowell has 246 with just eight errors. Galloway is the only other UH player in triple figures with 182 attempts.
“He’s worked; he worked hard on it from the day he got here, and he’s a lot better receiver,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “And he’s always the target, I think that’s helped. People try to stay away from Colton and Gage, so he’s targeted quite often, and I think he’s done a nice job.”
An accurate pass to the net allows setter Jakob Thelle to pick from UH’s array of weapons, including the springy 6-foot-3 Galloway, who can finish from the front or back row.
He enters this week’s Big West tournament third on the team with 2.28 kills per set behind All-Big West teammates Rado Parapunov and Cowell, while hitting .344. Some of his most spectacular have come from behind the 3-meter line on attacks that highlight his leaping ability.
“I love it. That’s my favorite place to swing from I like because I get to jump as far and as high as I want,” said Galloway, an All-Big West honorable mention selection. “It’s my best shot. I would say it’s the easiest for me, because I could see all the blockers in front of me … and I just hit the pick where I want to hit.”
“I’ve always enjoyed running the bic because I don’t like being taken out of the offense when I go back row. So in club I was like, ‘set the bic, set the bic,’ where I’m still an option.”
Prior to last year’s shutdown, Galloway worked his way into a veteran rotation with four starts and posted a season-high 10 kills in UH’s win over BYU in the Warriors’ final match of the season. He’s made 11 starts in 13 appearances this season and set a career best with 13 kills against UC San Diego on March 26. He had one of his best all-around performances on March 12 at UC Santa Barbara when went 8-for-8 on attacks and handled a team-high 22 serves without an error.
“I think just his overall maturity,” Wade said of Galloway’s progress over the last year. “He’s a better student. He’s more consistent in his efforts in the practice gym. Not that he was bad at those things before, but you just look at his overall development, it’s impressive.”
Galloway missed last Friday’s series opener against UC Irvine due to illness, but was back on Saturday and contributed six kills in 13 attempts and an ace in UH’s sweep of the Anteaters to complete an undefeated regular season heading into the Big West tournament.
The tournament opens today with two first-round matches at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The top-seeded Warriors will have a chance to scout their next opponent when fourth-seeded UC San Diego and Cal State Northridge meet in tonight’s 7 p.m. match. UH has a first-round bye and will face the UCSD-CSUN winner in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Friday.
After last season’s cancellation, this week marks Galloway’s first postseason tournament experience as the Warriors aim for the conference’s automatic berth into next month’s NCAA tournament.
“It’s gonna be new to me. I’m sure it’s gonna be tough. …We just have to go out there and play and not really think about the next day or the day after that,” Galloway said.
BIG WEST MEN’S VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
>> When: Today-Saturday
>> Today: Long Beach St. vs. UC Irvine, 4:30 p.m. UC San Diego vs. CSU Northridge, 7 p.m.
>> Friday: UC Santa Barbara vs. LBSU/UCI winner, 4:30 p.m. Hawaii vs. UCSD/CSUN winner, 7 p.m.
>> Saturday: Championship, 7 p.m.
>> TV: All matches on Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: Hawaii matches on 1420-AM/92.7-FM
