Next stop, Columbus.
After falling one win short of a national title in 2019 and being denied an opportunity to get back to the NCAA tournament last year, a season-ending trip to Ohio beckoned the Hawaii men’s volleyball team throughout the spring.
Limited to a schedule of Big West opponents, the Rainbow Warriors spent most of the season at No. 1 in the country and swept through the regular season at 15-0. A loss in the conference tournament didn’t hurt their standing on the national stage and the Warriors depart tonight for their third NCAA tournament appearance in five years.
The Warriors got in one more practice on campus on Saturday — the final session in Gym I for five Warriors finishing out their college careers this week — before packing up for the journey to the Midwest.
“They’ve spent lots of hours there over the last five or six years and just wanted to make sure they left the building after giving effort that’s suited to the people that have spent so much time working hard in that gym,” UH coach Charlie Wade said of a senior class that helped continue the program’s ascent since arriving in Manoa.
While the practice offered a moment for reflection, the Warriors spent the week focused on the task ahead after coming up short in the Big West tournament with a semifinal loss to UC San Diego on April 23 in their final home match of the season.
“Earlier in the week you could tell everybody was pretty hungry to get back after it,” Wade said.
After they arrive in Columbus on Monday afternoon, the Warriors will have two days to acclimate and make final preparations for their semifinal match on Thursday at the Covelli Center.
The seven-team NCAA tournament begins Monday with a play-in match between Penn State and Belmont Abbey. The winner advances to face Lewis on Tuesday, with No. 2 seed BYU awaiting in Thursday’s semifinals.
As the top seed, Hawaii also has a bye into the semifinals and will face the winner of Tuesday’s match between Big West tournament champion UC Santa Barbara and MPSF runner-up Pepperdine at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
The NCAA men’s volleyball season will end with the championship match at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“The seeding thing is not really relevant at this point,” Wade said. “It’s like stats — they don’t mean too much here at the end. Every team you play is good and you’re going to have to play your best to advance.”
Hawaii also entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed in 2019. That tournament ended with a loss to host Long Beach State in four sets in the national championship match. The Warriors were 15-1 and No. 2 in the AVCA coaches poll when the 2020 season was canceled amid the spread of COVID-19.
After an offseason of uncertainty, the Warriors will board tonight’s flight grateful for the opportunities ahead.
“Talking to the other coaches, everybody is appreciative of getting to this point,” Wade said. “And for our guys that made the decision to come back, we’re appreciative to the people in the community that helped make it happen and certainly everybody in and around the athletic department that got us through this safely. We’re appreciative of a lot of people who did a lot to get us to this point.”
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NCAA TOURNAMENT FIELD
HAWAII
Record: 15-1
Conference: Big West
Coach: Charlie Wade (211-110, 12th year)
AVCA ranking: 1
NCAA resume: At-large, Big West regular-season champion, seventh NCAA appearance
Outlook: Despite an uncharacteristically erratic night in a loss to UC San Diego in the Big West semifinals, the Rainbow Warriors remain the most efficient attack in the nation at .365. On the way to winning a second straight Big West Player of the Year award, opposite Rado Parapunov (4.41 kills per set, .340) has repeatedly praised the consistency of middle blocker Patrick Gasman, who leads the nation in hitting percentage at .500 and ranks sixth with 1.22 blocks per set. When Gasman rotates to the back row, Guilherme Voss is hitting .495 in the middle. Outside hitter Colton Cowell (3.09 kps, .307) and libero Gage Worsley (2.32 digs per set) are regarded as two of the nation’s top passers, while setter Jakob Thelle is averaging 10.63 assists per set and can take advantage of openings in the block to finish points himself. Parapunov has 70 matches in double-figure kills in his career, including the past 22 in a row.
BYU
Record: 19-3
Conference: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Coach: Shawn Olmstead (124-32, sixth year)
AVCA ranking: 2
NCAA resume: MPSF tournament champion, 10th NCAA appearance, three-time national champion (1999, 2000, 2004)
Outlook: When Hawaii fans last saw BYU’s Gabi Garcia Fernandez, the 6-foot-9 opposite hammered 38 kills on .483 hitting with 11 aces at the Stan Sheriff Center in the final two matches of 2020 for both teams. Garcia Fernandez, the reigning AVCA National Player of the Year, was named the MPSF ’s top player for the second straight season with 3.73 kills per set. The Cougars are hitting. 348 as a team, with setter Wil Stanley (Punahou) distributing 10.26 assists per set. Davide Gardini, a 6-9 outside hitter, complements Garcia Fernandez with 3.09 kills per set. The Cougars began the year at No. 1 and were replaced by Hawaii atop the AVCA poll after a loss to Grand Canyon on Feb. 25. Their other two losses came against UCLA to start and end the regular season. BYU then swept through the MPSF tournament for its eighth conference title.
UC SANTA BARBARA
Record: 15-4
Conference: Big West
Coach: Rick McLaughlin (184-159, 12th year)
AVCA ranking: 3
NCAA resume: Big West tournament champion, eighth NCAA appearance
Outlook: Back on March 21, the Gauchos were 5-4 after being swept in a three-match series with Hawaii and splitting with Long Beach State. They’ve since strung together 10 consecutive wins, earning the Big West’s automatic bid by claiming the conference tournament title at SimpliFi Arena. UCSB makes its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2011, when the Gauchos made a run to the final before falling to Ohio State. A group of four seniors — outside hitter Roy McFarland, opposite Randy DeWeese, middle blocker Keenan Sanders and setter Casey McGarry — returned for another run at a title. Sophomore outside hitter Ryan Wilcox (Punahou) was named Big West tournament MVP after leading the Gauchos with 28 kills and four aces. McGarry, a 2020 first-team All-American, runs an attack hitting .318, led by DeWeese’s 3.96 kills per set.
PEPPERDINE
Record: 13-6
Conference: Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Coach: David Hunt (59-27, fourth year)
AVCA ranking: 5
NCAA resume: At-large, MPSF tournament runner-up, 17th NCAA appearance, five-time NCAA champion (1978, 1985, 1986, 1992, 2005)
Outlook: A libero early in his career, Spencer Wickens was given a chance to swing this season and the 5-foot-11 senior put away a team-high 3.22 kills per set to earn a spot on the All-MPSF first team as an outside hitter. Austin Wilmot, a 6-10 senior, joined the Waves prior to the 2020 season as a transfer from UC Irvine and made the All-MPSF second team with 2.12 kills and 1.07 blocks per set while hitting .431, along with freshman setter Bryce Dvorak (9.22 assists per set). The Waves had their last three matches of the regular season canceled due to COVID-19 protocols and were cleared in time to make a run to the MPSF tournament final before being swept by BYU. A semifinal sweep of shorthanded UCLA might have pushed them ahead for the second at-large bid.
LEWIS
Record: 20-2
Conference: Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
Coach: Dan Friend (483-233, 17th year)
AVCA ranking: 4
NCAA resume: MIVA tournament champion, eighth NCAA appearance
Outlook: The Flyers are back in their second straight NCAA tournament two years after falling to Hawaii in four sets in the national semifinals. Ryan Coenen, a 6-foot-9 senior, had 18 kills in that match and returned this season after earning AVCA All-America recognition each of the past four years (second team 2017-19, first team 2020). He could be on his way to a fifth honor after earning his second MIVA Player of the Year award and being named the MIVA tournament MVP after the Flyers’ sweep of Loyola Chicago. He enters the NCAA tournament second in the nation with 4.43 kills per set. Sophomore Kevin Kauling leads the nation with 10.87 assists per set and runs an attack with a .340 hitting percentage, trailing only Hawaii and BYU. Lewis also tops the seven-team NCAA field with 2.88 blocks per set, led by Tyler Mitchem’s 1.28. The 6-10 senior ranks third nationally in blocks per set and hitting percentage (.478).
PENN STATE
Record: 21-3
Conference: Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
Coach: Mark Pavlik (605-208, 27th year)
AVCA ranking: T-7
NCAA resume: EIVA tournament champion, 32nd NCAA appearance, two-time national champion (1994, 2008)
Outlook: The Nittany Lions return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017, which was also the last time the tournament was held in Columbus. Penn State dropped a five-set duel with Hawaii in the opening round back then and was placed in Monday’s play-in match after winning the EIVA tournament title. Penn State opened this season by splitting a series at Ohio State in January and earned a trip back to the Covelli Center with a four-set win over No. 12 George Mason in the EIVA final. Junior setter Cole Bogner, the EIVA Player of the year, tends to keep pin hitters Cal Fisher and Brett Wildman busy, with the duo accounting for 51% of the Nittany Lions’ total kills this season. They combined for 49 of PSU’s 59 kills while hitting .388 in the EIVA tournament final. Fisher, the EIVA tournament MVP, enters the NCAA tournament hitting .349 and leads the nation with 55 aces.
BELMONT ABBEY
Record: 15-7
Conference: Conference Carolinas
Coach: Nolan Albrecht (51-44, fourth year)
AVCA ranking: NR
NCAA resume: Conference Carolinas tournament champion, first NCAA appearance
Outlook: Located about 13 miles from Charlotte, N.C., with an enrollment just south of 2,000, Belmont Abbey finished second in Conference Carolinas in the regular season and knocked off top-seeded Mount Olive in four sets in the conference tournament final to earn the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance. Senior setter Brennan Davis, the tournament MVP, ranks sixth nationally with 10.62 assists per set and runs an offense that hit a collective .263 for the season but heated up to .326 in the postseason. Matteo Miselli, a freshman from Italy, leads the Crusaders with 3.98 kills per set and recorded 20 kills in both tournament matches. Andrew Kohut, a 6-6 junior opposite, is next at 4.32 kps this season. Middle blocker Riley Mulkey, a 6-5 junior, leads the team and ranks sixth in the country with a .455 hitting percentage.
SCHEDULE
At Columbus, Ohio
Opening round
All matches streamed on BTN Plus
Monday
Penn State vs. Belmont Abbey, 11 a.m.
Tuesday
UC Santa Barbara vs. Pepperdine, 11 a.m.
Lewis vs. Penn State/ Belmont Abbey winner, 2 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
(Matches streamed on NCAA.com)
Thursday
Hawaii vs. UC Santa Barbara/Pepperdine winner, 11 a.m.
BYU vs. Lewis/Penn State/Belmont Abbey, 2 p.m.
FINAL
Saturday
Semifinal winners, 2 p.m. (ESPNU)
