Although they followed different paths over the past five years, shared experiences united the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball program’s trio of senior night honorees.
Max Rosenfeld joined the Rainbow Warriors back in 2017 as a freshman middle blocker from New Lenox, Ill., and helped welcome two graduate transfers into the program last summer.
Kyler Presho, another middle blocker, became a second-generation Warrior when he signed with UH following his four-year career at Stanford.
Avery Enriques had faced Presho in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches as a libero/defensive specialist at Grand Canyon, and the former Kamehameha-Hawaii standout pounced on an opportunity to finish his career back home.
Once they convened in Manoa, it didn’t take long for them to find common ground.
“You’d think to have two guys coming in for only one year in the program, you wouldn’t really be hanging out with them all the time,” Rosenfeld said. “But I think the unique thing is since we’re all fifth-year guys and we all had finished our undergrad and we’re trying to navigate how to be a graduate student and how to manage a practice schedule and a game schedule, we kind of bonded pretty quickly over that.”
The fourth-ranked Rainbow Warriors (18-5, 3-3 Big West) open a pivotal conference series with No. 5 UC Santa Barbara (16-6, 5-2) tonight at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center and will hold their annual senior night ceremony following Saturday’s rematch.
Presho and Enriques will go through their second senior night celebrations in as many years, while Rosenfeld will take his turn in the spotlight after watching four previous classes honored after UH’s regular-season home finale.
Last year’s senior class celebrated in an empty arena, and this year’s seniors are looking forward to a return of the full experience.
“It’s going to be really good to have them in person,” Rosenfeld said. “A lot of familiar faces I’ve seen at every home game over the past five years.”
Presho was among the Stanford seniors recognized following an intrasquad scrimmage last April after the Cardinal’s regular-season finale with Pepperdine was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.
The Stanford men’s volleyball program was slated to be cut following the season before being reinstated in May, and Presho decided to use his remaining year of eligibility at the school where his father, Mark, posted 1,582 kills from 1990 to ’93, still the second-highest total in program history.
“There was straight up a year of college that was completely wrecked by COVID, so it was nice to get a year of college back,” Presho said.
“Based on all the factors I had when I was being recruited for a second time in my senior year of college, which was a little weird, I added everything up and Hawaii seemed like the best fit for me and it was a pretty straightforward decision.”
Enriques’ first senior night was a family affair. The Kamehameha-Hawaii graduate popped up a match-high 13 digs in Grand Canyon’s sweep of Concordia, with his twin brother, Addison, on the other side of the net. Avery was named the MPSF Defensive Player of the Week and had 11 digs in a win over USC in the MPSF Tournament. GCU’s season ended with a loss to BYU, and Enriques planned to return to Hilo to enter post-college life.
But when an opportunity to join the Warriors arose over the summer, he decided to extend his career another year.
“It’s meant a great deal to me,” said Enriques, the youngest of five brothers to play collegiate volleyball. “I grew up watching the program and played against the program (in 2020), and being able to play for the state and represent the Big Island and the whole state is amazing.”
Rosenfeld has a year of eligibility left, but will move on following his fifth year at UH. He’ll take with him an undergraduate degree in psychology and a graduate certificate in conflict resolution as well as a national championship.
“It’s been a really special experience,” Rosenfeld said. “I’ve gotten to interact with a lot of people, especially this year, that I did not think I would originally.”
Rosenfeld was among the first people Presho interacted with upon arriving in Hawaii, helping to welcome the newcomers to the island and the program.
“He took me in, he had me sleep on his couch for a couple of weeks when I first got here while I was looking for houses with my roommate (Enriques),” Presho said. “Obviously our bond has increased as the year has gone on. It’s been fun to compete with him every day in the gym. … It’s nice to have somebody who gets all the stuff that we go through as athletes.”
Rosenfeld made three starts last season and hit .684 with two errors in 38 attacks in UH’s run to the national title. Among his highlights was an 11-for-15 performance on .778 hitting in a series sweep of Long Beach State.
Presho and Rosenfeld had started seven matches each this season in a crowded middle blocker rotation, with Guilherme Voss leading the group and Cole Hogland earning 12 starts. Enriques has seen action in seven matches, with an increased role in the last two weeks to help stabilize UH’s serve reception.
“These guys have played a lot of volleyball at a high level on really good teams and they’re just good team guys, good locker-room guys,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “They show up every day in practice, they never grumble about their role or getting an opportunity. I think they’ve embraced the opportunities they’ve gotten, and when they get a chance to go in they make the most of it.”
Big West men’s volleyball
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
No. 5 UC Santa Barbara (16-6, 5-2 BWC) vs. No. 4 Hawaii (18-5, 3-3)
>> When: Today and Saturday, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
