Guilherme Voss exerts an undeniable influence on the court whether the ball comes his way or not.
Recognizable in the community, the attention the 6-foot-7 University of Hawaii middle blocker commands at the net factors heavily into the Rainbow Warrior volleyball team’s attack.
Well established as a dynamic attacker and one of the nation’s leading blockers over his first three seasons of collegiate volleyball, Voss’ reputation forces opponents to account for him on his turns through the front row. So a shift along the net or a jump in the middle can open seams for the Warriors’ attacks on the pins or out of the back row.
“I love it,” Voss said of those occasions when he serves as a decoy. “Having the middle jump on me and then they set the bic (back-row quick), especially where you see their middle’s face going, ‘Aw, damn,’ that’s almost as rewarding as getting the kill yourself.”
When UH setter Jakob Thelle does feed the middle, Voss has converted at a career-high .556 hitting percentage, with 157 kills against 23 errors this season while repeating as a first-team All-Big West selection.
Defensively, Voss ranks fifth nationally with 1.16 blocks per set as the top-ranked Warriors continue their quest for a third straight national championship this week in Fairfax, Va.
“There’s nights when it looks like he didn’t get set that much, but when he’s taking blockers with him we’re just going to set it the other way,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “So he really does impact the game.
“As a blocker, his hands are always near the ball, he’s an instinctual blocker and he and Jakob have developed a great chemistry.”
The Big West champion Warriors are scheduled to depart on Monday for the program’s ninth appearance in the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship.
While second-seeded UH (28-2) has a bye into Thursday’s semifinals, tournament play begins today with Ohio State facing King (Tenn.) in an opening-round match at EagleBank Arena on the campus of George Mason University. The winner takes on Penn State on Tuesday, with that survivor facing UH on Thursday.
The overnight flight will be the Warriors’ second journey to the East Coast this season, but it figures to be far shorter than trips home for UH’s contingent of international players, including the Brazil-born Voss.
Voss’ family spent four years in Sugarland, Texas, before moving back to Rio de Janeiro, where he got his introduction to volleyball on the beach.
Once he took up the indoor game, he rose through Brazil’s national program and earned a starting spot on the country’s under-21 team as a 19-year-old.
“You’re talking about a country that loves volleyball and has a a lot of real high-level players and a great professional league and great national team,” Wade said. “For a guy like that to be starting on that kind of team says a lot about his level of play.”
He reached out to the UH coaching staff after researching U.S. colleges that could fulfill his interests in engineering as well as volleyball. Sight lines similar to those back home certainly didn’t hurt the Warriors’ recruiting pitch.
“The weather and environment in general were very attractive for me,” said Voss, who has a green card that allows him to enter into name, image and likeness arrangements not available to most international student-athletes. “Just having it be a similar situation to Rio where it’s mountains, beaches and sunshine.”
Voss immediately broke into a veteran lineup in 2020, starting 14 matches in the abbreviated season, and teamed with All-America middle Patrick Gasman in UH’s first national title run in 2021.
As the Warriors pursue a third title led by a senior class that includes fellow starters in Thelle, opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias and middle Cole Hogland as well as outside hitters Kana’i Akana, Filip Humler and Devon Johnson, Voss senses a similar vibe to the 2021 season, “where the super seniors came back and the whole mentality was, ‘Let’s get this for them.’ … It adds that little bit of motivation.”
Voss was named to the AVCA All-America second team last season, when he ranked second in the nation with 1.37 blocks per set while hitting .482 in UH’s second straight national title.
An academic All-Big West selection the past two years, Voss is on track to complete his engineering degree next May and plans to return to UH for his fifth season of volleyball eligibility.
“Those kinds of guys are so valuable,” Wade said. “They’re professional men, he’s played a high level, there’s never any drama, he takes care of school, takes care of everything he has to.
“He makes my life easier. You can never have too many guys like that.”
Voss plans to pursue professional volleyball following graduation, but the islands’ influence figures to draw him back to Hawaii down the line.
“It’s literally my second home,” Voss said. “Because the people are just so welcoming here and made us a part of their family.”
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NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship
At EagleBank Arena; Fairfax, Va.
Opening Round (Today, ESPN3)
Today: Ohio State (22-9) vs. King (Tenn.) (16-15), noon
Quarterfinals (Tuesday, ESPN3)
Long Beach State (20-4) vs. Grand Canyon (20-7), 11 a.m.
Penn State vs. Ohio State/King, 1:30 p.m.
Semifinals (Thursday, ncaa.com)
UCLA (29-2) vs. LBSU/GCU winner, 11 a.m.
Hawaii (28-2) vs. Penn State/Ohio State/King, 1:30 p.m.
Championship (Saturday, ESPN2)
Semifinal winners, 11 a.m.
>> Radio: UH matches on 1420-AM/92.7-FM
