Although he isn’t the most recognizable name on the roster, in one sense Keoni Thiim became the face of Hawaii’s latest men’s volleyball championship.

As the Rainbow Warriors reveled in their sweep of Long Beach State in the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship final last May in Pauley Pavilion, Thiim hoisted the trophy as an Associated Press photographer captured the celebration.

When the Warriors returned to Honolulu the next day, Thiim was surprised to see his moment of jubilation prominently displayed on the cover of the Sunday Star-Advertiser.

“I just turned around and somebody handed me the trophy,” Thiim recalled. “I was, ‘OK, I’ll show it off to the crowd.’ I didn’t expect to be on the first page.”

Actually, maybe it was fitting the Thiim found himself in the spotlight given the depth of his bloodlines in the program’s history.

His grandfather, Mike Wilton, coached the Warriors from 1992 to 2009 and remains the program’s wins leader with a record of 307-149.

An uncle, Aaron Wilton, was a headliner on UH’s rock-star teams of the mid-1990s. On his father’s side of the family, Thiim counts former UH All-America libero Larry “Tui” Tuileta among his cousins.

Now entering his second year with the Warriors, the 6-foot outside hitter hopes to continue to make a name for himself in a junior season.

Once an under-the-radar prospect, Thiim’s readings on the radar gun helped him carve out a role as a serving specialist and fired 11 aces during UH’s run to a second straight championship.

While the Warriors return all seven starters off of last season’s title team — including pin hitters Spyros Chakas, Chaz Galloway and Dimitrios Mouchlias — the springy Thiim has been a fast riser within the position group since joining the program last season.

“Last year at this time he was probably sixth or seventh on the depth chart,” UH coach Charlie Wade told reporters during the team’s media day on Friday, “and (this season) he’s no lower than fourth and some days he’s even higher than that.”

Despite his family’s background in the sport and childhood memories of running around on the court Stan Sheriff Center court after his grandfather’s matches, Thiim had a relatively late start in his pursuit of a spot on a college roster.

“My parents never really pushed me to play volleyball,” he said. “It was, ‘you can if you want.’ ”

He said he often “played for fun” with the Tuileta side of the family growing up and it wasn’t until his junior year at Kalani High School that “I took it seriously and that’s when I decided I wanted to come play at the next level.”

“Probably after my junior year I felt like I’m improving fast and I liked the atmosphere of the volleyball community and kept watching the guys play and I just felt it was something I wanted to do.”

He joined a club team for the first time and helped Kalani reach the 2018 Division II state tournament. He pounded 31 kills in 78 swings in a five-set loss to Molokai in the opening round.

Thiim said former UH assistant coach Joshua Walker recommended going the junior-college route with a the possibility of earning a walk-on spot down the road.

“I kind of knew I was behind, so every summer I would make sure I put in extra work to catch up,” Thiim said. “There were four summers in a row just really grinding.”

After a season at Santa Barbara Community College, Thiim indeed made the roster with the defending national champion Warriors a year ago and his work ethic extended into the season.

Early in the year, Wade spoke about an evening when he had forgotten something in Gym 1 and walked in to find Thiim alone, pounding serves with balls scattered across the court.

Thiim said he allowed himself a bit of a break after last season’s championship run, playing for fun again and doing some coaching.

“It was a good battery reset,” he said.

While Thiim still brings a high-energy presence to the court, he is looking to modify the all-or-nothing approach to his serves as the top-ranked Warriors head toward Thursday’s season opener against No. 6 Ball State at SimpliFi Arena.

“This year I definitely have to tone it down a little bit and make sure I’m letting my team play,” Thiim said. “We’re really good so I should let them play.”